Dodd-Frank Indemnification May Hamper Transparency in OTC Derivatives

Larry Thompson, Managing Director and General Counsel
While lawmakers and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic share the goal of enhancing transparency in the over-the-counter derivatives marketplace, there’s a growing consensus that a relatively obscure provision in the U.S. Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act has the potential to frustrate these efforts.

This article appears courtesy of Bloomberg Brief Financial Reform Newsletter, September 16, 2011

Managing the Risk of Ex-Clearing Trades

Susan Cosgrove, Managing Director, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
The challenge of processing broker-to-broker obligations confirmed and settled outside a clearing corporation (known as ex-clearing) has intensified in recent years as financial firms need real time information has increased. At the same time, some in the industry have raised the red flag because these transactions, which are confirmed and settled directly between brokers using highly manual and error prone processes, potentially create operational and counterparty risk.

This article originally appeared in Sifma Newsletter, April, 2011

Consensus is crucial for global OTC ground rules

Donald F. Donahue, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
European and US authorities are moving forward with adopting oversight reforms to ensure financial markets have greater protection from systemic risk and provide tighter supervision of the global over-the-counter derivatives market. As legislators and regulators grapple with these proposed policies, several important questions must be addressed.

This article originally appeared in Financial Times, Tuesday May 4, 2010

Transforming the Processing of Fails and Other Open Obligations

Susan Cosgrove, DTCC Managing Director, Clearance and Settlement/Equities
In the U.S. capital markets, the industry is well served by an automated post-trade process that seamlessly clears, guarantees and settles trades that on a peak day can top 19 billion shares, or average about $2 trillion. However, regulators, policymakers and financial firms are justifiably concerned about ex-clearing trades, which are managed broker-to-broker using highly manual and error-prone processes, including phone calls and faxes to exchange information to ensure final settlement.

This article originally appeared in Securities Operations, Fall 2009.

DTCC’s Trade Information Warehouse Streamlines Payouts on Multiple Credit Events

Frank De Maria III, DTCC Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Deriv/SERV; and Marisol Collazo, DTCC Vice President, Deriv/SERV Business Development
Through the recent and ongoing turmoil in global credit markets, the credit event processing infrastructure has proved its efficiency and resiliency to the benefit of all participants in the OTC credit derivatives industry.

This article originally appeared in Alternative Investment News, March 9, 2009.

Balance of Power

Diana Chan, EuroCCP Chief Executive Officer
Europe's securities industry is transforming itself at breakneck speed into a much more competitive arena. But is the post-trade world moving fast enough to keep up?

This article originally appeared in ICFA Magazine, June 2008.

Smart Solutions for OTC Derivatives

Janet Wynn, DTCC Managing Director and General Manager, DTCC Deriv/SERV LLC
For hedge funds, asset managers and other buy-side institutions, over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives are an increasingly important element of their investment and trading strategies.

This article originally appeared in FT Mandate, February 2008.

One Less Compliance Issue - Annuity Fund Transfers

John Ziambras, DTCC Managing Director and Insurance Services General Manager

Once upon a time, compliance was a lower case "c" and lived in a small room somewhere in a company's legal department. All that changed with the discovery in 2003 of market abuses that eventually led regulators to impose whopping fines and, of course, issue more regulations.

This bylined article originally appeared in Annuity Market News, June 2007.

Stop the Presses

Janet Wynn, DTCC Managing Director

They're expensive to administer and easy to lose, but paper securities certificates are still a requirement in some jurisdictions. However, electronic stockholding may at last be about to take hold.

This bylined article originally appeared in Financial i magazine, December 2005.

When Will the Paper Chase Ever End in Arizona?

Janet Wynn, DTCC Managing Director

This past May, Delaware joined a growing number of states in helping to modernize the financial services industry by eliminating the requirement for public companies incorporated there to issue paper stock certificates.

This bylined article originally appeared in The Business Journal, July 8, 2005 (at the request of the publication, this article may be viewed, but not printed).