DTCC Connection

In September, DTCC-Euroclear GlobalCollateral Ltd., the joint-venture between DTCC and Euroclear, hosted a series of events focusing on pressing issues in collateral management.

This year’s Collateral Conference for the Americas, held in New York, followed events in Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore facilitating a global industry dialogue, which will be continued in Lisbon and Brussels in the upcoming month. The events provided a forum for nearly 500 market and industry participants, representing a cross section of the buy-side, sell-side, custodian, regulator policymaker and collateral vendor community representatives, to discuss the convergence of collateral requirements and the collaborative move towards strategic industry solutions.

Among the topics discussed were:

• The operational challenges across the collateral management lifecycle from margin agreement to streamlining the settlement and segregation of bilateral and triparty margin obligations.
• Insights on lessons learned from the initial margin implementation, collateral supply, legal, regulatory and documentary issues.
• The power of collaboration and how market participants can cross the new frontier in collateral management by leveraging market utilities such as Acadiasoft’s MarginSphere, and DTCC-Euroclear GloballCollateral Limited’s Margin Transit Utility (MTU) and Collateral Management Utility (CMU) were further highlighted by speakers during the events.

Firms represented at the panel sessions included Chappuis Halder, JP Morgan, Citi, Standard Chartered Bank, GIC, Challenger and King & Wood Mallesons. Speakers who participated at the events were from Singapore Exchange, International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), Clifford Chance, Australian Financial Markets Association (AFMA) and King & Wood Mallesons.

In summarizing the success of the APAC Collateral Management events, Purtini Joshi, Head of Collateral Sales for Asia Pacific, DTCC, said, “The events provided market participants with an excellent platform to gain insights on how to work with utility providers to streamline, standardize, simplify and automate operational processes as they progress to the next wave in margin requirements,” she said. “Market participants also benefited from the free flow of information exchanged and in depth discussions on operational impacts and technological concerns needed to conquer the collateral challenge.”

"We were told by many from all areas of the industry - sell-side, buy-side, custodians, and collateral management vendors - that preparing for the variation margin rules was one of the busiest times of their careers, there is still more work to be done, more challenges to solve for future regulatory requirements," said Mark Jennis, Executive Chairman, DTCC-Euroclear GlobalCollateral Ltd., during his opening remarks at our Collateral Conference for the Americas in NYC.