The impending switch to T+1 settlement in North America scheduled for May 28, 2024, has raised concerns in Europe, where market participants report a lack of international testing. Although not officially moving to T+1 just yet, Europe launched its T+1 taskforce led by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) in March last year. In early conversations… Read More >>
Three Banks Face $34M in Fines via Cartel Charges
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Crédit Agricole, and Credit Suisse have been fined by the European Commission for their alleged involvement in a bond-trading cartel that also included Deutsche Bank, which escaped the fine because it reported the situation to E.U. officials. Late last month, the three banks were fined a total of €28,494,000 ($34,589,360) for… Read More >>
Regulators Brace for Impacts of a Hard Brexit
The Brexit saga continues as the government of the United Kingdom debates how to create either a clear, negotiated path away from the European Union or leave via a much more risky, unnegotiated “hard exit.” As of this Monday night, April 1, the U.K. parliament was still mulling its options. The only certainty is that… Read More >>
CFTC Exempts Key MTFs From SEF Status
U.K. MTFs Can Operate as Exempt SEFs The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an amended order that will allow an additional four multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) authorized within the European Union to be exempted from the requirement to register with the CFTC as swap execution facilities (SEFs). The four additional United Kingdom-based… Read More >>
U.S. Firms Prepare for Tougher E.U. Privacy Regs
(Editor’s note: The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the European Union was created to do two major jobs: replace the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC, and to harmonize data privacy laws across Europe, officials report. The new legislation, when it takes effect May 25, 2018, is intended to “protect and empower” data privacy and “reshape… Read More >>
BNP Paribas Subsidiary Dives Into Tri-Party Collateral Management
BNP Paribas Securities Services has launched a tri-party collateral management service that aims to connect buy-side and sell-side firms in order to unlock liquidity pools and improve the collateralization process across a wider range of securities. The service provides exposure to segregated markets, enabling clients to access previously untapped sources of collateral. In addition, clients… Read More >>
Frankfurt Leads in Race to Be Next E.U. Financial Hub
As U.K. and European Union officials battle it out over Brexit financial settlements and border resolutions, Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and Frankfurt are vying to be the city of choice for London-based financial institutions searching for a new European base. Competition is fierce but Germany’s largest city and financial capital, already home to the European Central… Read More >>
Brexit-Born Bank Exodus Begins
Frankfurt and Dublin are emerging as the favorite hotspots for foreign banks as United Kingdom and continental European negotiators hammer out a Brexit deal by March 2019. Although many observers believe that the Brexit process will take longer than the earmarked two-year period, there has been a spate of announcements because banks, fund managers, insurers… Read More >>
E.C. Eyes the Prize of Euro-Denominated Clearing
The European Commission (E.C.) has been trying to get its hands on London’s lucrative $900 billion-per-day euro-clearing business for years and it is using Brexit to seize the prize. While the plans stop short of a forced relocation after the U.K. leaves the European Union (E.U.), newly released proposals from E.C. officials would tighten the… Read More >>
Election Clouds the Future for Theresa May & Brexit
For the second time within a year, U.K. voters went to the polls and produced a surprise result. Last June, it was Brexit and this time around it is a hung Parliament as the incumbent Tories missed the 326 mark that they needed to form a government. Despite calls for Prime Minister Theresa May to… Read More >>
