Capital Markets Advisors

Friday, January 23rd, 2015 by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER A recent white paper by the CME entitled Clearing – Balancing CCP and Member Contributions with Exposures brings into sharper focus a debate that has been raging under the surface of the markets, about whether the introduction of mandatory clearing for swaps has concentrated risk in the CCPs and made them too big to fail. As with any document published by a participant… Read More »

Wednesday, January 7th, 2015 by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER Although the regulators recently postponed some aspects of the covered fund requirements under the Volcker Rule (VR), there was no change in the proprietary trading requirements. As of now they still kick in on July 21, 2015. Meanwhile, some of the regulators have already begun examining banks on their preparations for compliance. Based on those exams, and some instructions issued by one of… Read More »

Monday, December 22nd, 2014 by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER As we move from Thanksgiving to Christmas, it is traditional to reflect back on the year that is coming to a close, and to begin planning for the new year. For the capital markets, reflecting on 2014 may result in mixed emotions, so does 2015 look to be any better? Looking Back Actually, taking the retrospective view it would be easy to say… Read More »

Monday, December 1st, 2014 by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER Capital markets participants are nearly unanimous in the belief that almost every aspect of the markets is changing: international regulation, capital requirements, liquidity, and instrument structures , just to name a few. With that much change blowing things around, it can be hard to make out forms in the murk, but gradually the shape of the capital markets of the future is beginning… Read More »

Tuesday, September 9th, 2014 by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER It doesn’t actually matter whether a bank is solvent – what matters is whether the economy as a whole thinks it is solvent. Once a critical mass of market participants begin to doubt the quality of a bank’s promise to pay, the rush is on to get out of that institution, and its living will is of little use. The news this summer… Read More »

by George M. Bollenbacher On September 16th the New York Court of Appeals will hear arguments on a case that is rather well known in commercial banking circles, but perhaps less so in the swaps markets. As it turns out, the case may have significant implications for swaps market participants, including clearing houses. The case itself, Motorola Credit Corp v. Standard Chartered Bank, nominally involves the question of whether a… Read More »

Monday, August, 18th, 2014 by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER Everyone is aware of the many and momentous changes in swaps regulation across the globe, and most of us have read predictions by various authorities (who may or may not have an axe to grind) on how the market will change as a result of regulations. However, there is precious little actual statistical evidence of how the market is changing, partly because the… Read More »

TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2014, 9:24AM by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER If anyone had any doubts about the impact of regulatory change on the swaps markets, they only need to read ISDA’s recent research paper, Revisiting Cross-Border Fragmentation of Global OTC Derivatives: Mid-year 2014 Update. The paper makes it clear that regional attempts to regulate a global market can have unintended consequences. Here are some of their findings about the IRS market: The… Read More »

JULY, 2014 by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER   With the compliance date for the Volcker Rule (VR) just under a year away, most banks are fully involved in getting ready, but their technology vendors may be way behind, if they are even aware of its implications for their products. Unless tech companies get on the stick, banks may find that many of their compliance efforts are compromised, if not ineffective. First Things… Read More »

MONDAY, JULY 21, 2014 by GEORGE BOLLENBACHER   With all the discussions about: 1) the coming (sometime) global increase in interest rates and 2) the need to margin outstanding swaps positions, not much has been said yet about what happens when these two events intersect. So it’s time to take a close look at the storm that will occur when these two clouds on the horizon come together. First let’s… Read More »