Tag: derivatives

Trying to divine the evolution of the SEF landscape

I’ve been at Greenwich Associates a little over a year now.  Since I’ve been here I’ve written a few blog posts about SEFs, but have otherwise not written any formal research pieces on the topic.  When I started looking at this back in 2010 via SEF 101, it was a green field.  Today there is […]

Corporate End Users Unfazed by Derivatives Reform

Earlier this year we spoke with just shy of 400 corporate treasurers about their use of interest rate derivatives.  Given this group of IRD users isn’t covered as closely from a market structure perspective as financial end users, I was excited to see what trends we could find within the interview responses.  So with the […]

Package trade rules – can they do that?

On Thursday May 1 the CFTC released an eagerly awaited clarifying document outlining when and how package trades would be required on SEF.  Packaged transactions will be phased in by type from May 15th through November 15th, and to deal with the pre-trade credit checking issue (checking limits against each leg as opposed to the limit utilization […]

Why SEF Volumes Don’t Matter (Yet)

On October 2 swap execution facilities (SEF) became official and started reporting trading volumes.  While this new level of transparency is exciting, today’s reported volumes don’t really matter.  In addition to the lack of reporting standards which complicate doing an apples to apples comparison (i.e. voice vs. electronic, D2D vs. D2C, FRAs vs. IRS), the […]

MF Global, Innovation and Swaps Reform in the Financial Times

The FT published a great special section this past Monday on the state of OTC derivatives reform. Coverage ranged from the impact of MF Global on margin and segregation rules to technology innovation driven by the new rules. What these stories all reaffirm is how much the details of the final rules will impact liquidity, […]

Regulators Approve a New Window Into 'Swaps' (Wall Street Journal)

It seemed like the CFTC’s meeting yesterday (Dec 12th) would be a big one; we’d find out the size of a block trade and in doing so get some insight into how truly electronic the swaps market would become. Â Unfortunately, the can has been kicked down the road again. Â Instead we have a […]

Presenting to the CFTC on Swaps Liquidity Fragmentation (and Aggregation)

On Tuesday, December 13th I presented to the CFTC Technology Advisory Committee. Chairman Gensler and Commissioners O’Malia and Wetjan were all there. Each panelist, myself included, gave a 15 minute opening and then we participated in an open Q&A with the Chairman, Commissioners and the members of the TAC. Maybe I’m just optimistic, but it […]