Confirming recent market rumours, BCBS\IOSCO have today announced their recommendation to stagger IM Phase 5 implementation over a two year period. An adjusted Phase 5 will apply to firms with an AANA equal to or greater than USD\EUR 50bn and less than 750bn. A new Phase 6, from 1 September 2020 to 1 September 2021, […]

Trailing in the wake of their northern neighbours, the CFTC has today issued a Staff Advisory confirming that there is no requirement for covered swap entities (CSEs) to put IM documentation and custody arrangements in place before the $50m threshold is reached.  As the conclusion to the Advisory notes: “Accordingly, to the extent the $50 […]

Canada’s Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is the first Regulator to break cover following BCBS\IOSCO’s 5 March statement. On 28 June the OSFI published a letter on its website, purporting to give guidance on the statement. For the convenience of its readers, the letter restates the BCBS\IOSCO statement, then goes on to […]

Banks have spent the last four years gamely preparing for and complying with IM regulations. Phases 1-3 have been challenging, the current phase 4 promises more of the same. The market has long been aware that phases 1-4 are mere kittens to the phase 5 (probably angry) tiger. Useful initiatives- negotiation platforms, custodian portals, standardised […]

Opinions obviously vary, but for me there are very few opportunities to be glad not to be Australian. Here is one for already punch-drunk IM lawyers and compliance personnel. The largest four banks in New Zealand are Australian-owned- ANZ, ASB, BNZ and Westpac. New Zealand is not a G20 member and has therefore been (relatively) […]

As market participants are all too aware, following the financial crisis in 2008-2009, G20 agreed to a regulatory reform agenda covering the OTC derivatives market and market participants, including proposals for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. The recommendations were finalised in the BCBS-IOSCO’s Final Framework for Non-Centrally Cleared Derivatives, which established the international standards […]

Introduction On 14 April 2016 ISDA published the New York law “2016 Credit Support Annex for Variation Margin (VM)” (the “NY-law VM CSA”).  Subsequently, on 29 April 2016 it published the English law “2016 VM Credit Support Annex for Variation Margin (VM)” (the “English-law VM CSA” and together with the NY-law VM CSA, the “VM […]

The FSB has confirmed the final levels and timeline for the Total Loss-Absorbing Capacity (TLAC) standard for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), a central element in the Basel III TBTF diet. TLAC sets a minimum requirement for instruments and liabilities that will be available to bail-in a G-SIB undergoing resolution; it acts to set a […]

The FSB has published the 2015 annual update of its G-SIB list. The list contains 30 banks identified as G-SIBs, by the FSB and BCBS using year-end 2015 data. BBVA has been removed from the list entirely, RBS has been moved down into the 1% higher loss-absorbency bucket and China Construction Bank has been added. […]