Creditflux

LCH and Ice prepare to battle it out over options clearing
A fully cleared market for CDS options is getting closer, with the two largest central clearing counterparties (CCPs) set to expand their services.

Narrowly tailored event protocol set to go live in weeks
Investors have until 14 October to sign up to an Isda protocol aimed at stamping out narrowly tailored credit events (NTCEs) from the CDS market.

Guidelines fail to assuage fears over loose reporting standards
The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute’s new hedge fund reporting guidelines come into play next year, but some say they fall short of a much-needed overhaul.

Esma publishes final guidelines for alternative and Ucits fund liquidity stress-test
Fund managers have just over a year to comply with liquidity stress test final guidelines published yesterday by the European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) for alternative investment funds (AIFs) and undertakings for the collective investment in transferable securities (Ucits)

LCH's French unit adds first Japanese clearing member
Mizuho has signed up as the first Japanese clearing member of LCH SA, the French clearing unit of London Stock Exchange-owned LCH Group

CLO market awaits further Volcker amendments as initial tweaks centre on prop trading
CLOs will not be impacted by changes to the Volcker rule announced yesterday, which means that rules limiting bond buckets in US CLOs will remain intact for the immediate future. Instead, regulators revealed that some of the rules around bank proprietary trading will be relaxed

Big questions for CDS shorters as Isda protocol countdown begins
With only a month to go until the International Swaps & Derivatives Association rolls out its protocol for narrowly tailored credit events, big net buyers of CDS protection should think hard about both its value and maintaining liquidity, says law firm Kramer Levin

New EC fund rules could lead to ‘pre-pre-marketing’
The European Commission has approved a standardised concept of ‘pre-marketing’ in a move that could see more capital flow through the European Economic Area. The new definition of pre-marketing is meant to provide clarity, but some sources say that the amendments could be seen as an additional burden and lead to a concept of pre-pre-marketing.

Past Returns: German direct lending’s overhaul
In Creditflux five years ago we reported on German fund managers campaigning against regulations which dictated that funds require a banking licence to act as direct lenders. In 2016 they got their way as the German Banking Act stipulated that the banking licence requirement would not be imposed if a direct lender was authorised under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive.

Regulators delay final initial margin deadline and add extra roll-out phase
Regulators have granted a one-year reprieve to smaller counterparties from a requirement to post initial margin on derivative trades, while introducing an additional implementation phase. But while a relief for large numbers of firms struggling to meet the deadline, the concession still ignores calls from industry bodies to deploy a higher final capture threshold

Morgan Stanley becomes third bank in four months to join CDSClear
Morgan Stanley has signed up as a member of CDSClear at LCH SA

What price lender integrity if myriad interpretations mean nobody knows where they stand?
Net short language is seeping into loan documentation. The problem is that some funds may not know their net position

Ireland looks to tweak fund regulation in private debt push
Ireland has proposed several technical amendments to its regulated Irish Limited Partnership (ILP) as it tries to regain ground lost to Luxembourg.

Investors raise concerns over obscure wording in CLO docs
Europe’s structured credit market has been abiding by the Securitisation Regulation for the best part of six months, but some investors have told Creditflux that they are still not satisfied with the way European CLOs are accounting for potential fines. 

US CLO managers see positives as docs include negative notation language to ease move to new reference rate
Europe might be making progress, but US CLO managers are less than preoccupied with the looming transition away from US dollar-Libor based pricing. 

CLO issuance faces threat amid loan definition dispute
The clash over Millennium Laboratories’ bankruptcy could have ramifications for the CLO market, and it all hinges on the philosophical question: what is a loan?

Cayman Island hopping: EU laws provoke switch in CLO listings
The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX) is set to become the listing place of choice in 2019 for CLOs put together by US managers — at least, according to a bold prediction by law firm Harneys.

Market making begins in German bank senior preferred CDS
Dealers will today begin making markets in senior preferred CDS of German banks, following the implementation of a protocol created by the International Swaps & Derivatives Association

The resolution of narrowly tailored credit events is a leap forward for the CDS market
Isda is replacing the mechanistic determination of a failure-to-pay credit event with a more subjective rule

Ashurst promotes structured products lawyer as one of 21 new partners
Ashurst has promoted to partner a London-based lawyer who specialises in derivatives and debt capital markets

LCH signs up first Italian member to CDSClear
Banca IMI, the investment bank of Intesa Sanpaolo, has signed up as the first Italian member of CDSClear at LCH SA, the French clearing unit of London Stock Exchange-owned LCH Group

Three "critical safeguards" required for competitive loan syndication, European Commission says
The European Commission has published its final report on European loan syndication and the impact of competition in credit markets, in which it outlines three "critical safeguards"