SOFR Swaptions – Week One Update

Last week we covered SOFR First in Swaptions and did so the day after the November 8th commencement date. Now that we have more data, let’s look at what this shows. Week One – SOFR Swaptions In SDRView Researcher, we select USD Swaptions and categorize by reference index as IBOR or RFR. Showing that in […]

IM Model Validation for UMR under EMIR – Backtesting

Last week the EBA published a consultation paper on its  its draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on Initial Margin Model Validation (IMMV) under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).  This is an important and long awaited publication, particularly for the hundreds of firms in the EU that are complying with UMR IM requirements as of Sep 2021 […]

SOFR First in Swaptions

This is not quite our normal “LIVE BLOG” type of announcement for SOFR First in Swaptions (and other non-linear derivatives). I tend to think that Options markets like to make things (unnecessarily?) complicated, and so there are a number of moving parts to look at for SOFR First in USD Swaptions. In Summary November 8th […]

Cleared Swap Volumes and Share – 3Q 2021

USD IRS volumes elevated due to FRA to SPS change SOFR Swaps at record highs EUR IRS volumes flat, Eurex share also flat €STR Swaps a record month JPY IRS volumes down, OIS record, JSCC increasing share over LCH AUD Swaps up QoQ, down YoY, LCH higher share iTraxx Europe, volumes up, ICE Clear Credit […]

What’s New in CCP Disclosures – 2Q21

Clearing Houses have published their latest CPMI-IOSCO Quantitative Disclosures: Initial margin for IRS steady in the range $250-270 billion range for 5 quarters Initial margin for CDS at $58 billion drifting down 3% QoQ and 12% YoY Initial margin for selected ETD at $440 billion up 5% YoY Initial margin increases at OCC, ICE Europe F&O, Eurex OTC IRS, LCH CDSClear, ASX CLF Explanatory Notes are […]

SOFR Now 78% of Interdealer Market

The latest ISDA-Clarus RFR Adoption Indicator shows that RFR trading is really picking up across the board. I know we’ve all been waiting a while for this to happen, but finally the industry seems to be accelerating efforts to transition away from IBORs. September 2021 Overall, we hit a new all time high of 20.3%. […]

There Are Now Over 1,000 Clarus Blog Posts!

The Clarus blog has recently published its 1,000th blog. We run through our early blog posts and highlight some of our most popular posts. The blog had over 500,000 page views in 2020. We are looking forward to the next 500,000. I realised a little too late last week that we have just gone over […]

Mechanics and Definitions of RFR Cross Currency Swaps

Cross Currency Swaps exchange a funding position in one currency for a funding position in another currency. Markets have transitioned to trading RFR vs RFR since September 21st 2021 in three major currency pairs. The interbank market continues to trade a resettable floating-floating swap, incorporating a USD cash payment to reset the mark-to-market close to […]

SACCR Multipliers, Initial Margin and KCCP

KCCP defines the amount of capital that must be held versus default fund contributions at a CCP. The lower the value of KCCP, the lower the overall cost of clearing. The SACCR multiplier used to calculate KCCP suggests that KCCP reduces for every extra dollar of Initial Margin posted at a CCP. We look at […]