Holidays over, we seem to have reverted to the mean for the interim phase of SEF implementation. So, the snoozefest in the middle of the snoozefest is over.
We should, however, be receiving some news this week to confirm that prime time will be coming in February. It would seem that by Thursday of this week, the CFTC will provide comments on the MAT applications, and subsequently hold a committee meeting next Tuesday to discuss the comments.
So what will the comments be this week? The common belief is they will find no problems large enough to stop the rollout of MAT designated contracts starting up in February. In fact, it would seem there is some confusion as to whether they could refuse of decline the applications. The two finer points that will likely get some comment and generate subsequent debate:
- Phasing in. Will we have a similar phasing in of contracts like we saw for clearing? I think not, with one exception:
- Packaged trades. The amended MAT applications by Javelin and Tradeweb removed trades belonging either fully or in part to a package. For technical considerations this will likely be agreed, but will be interesting to hear the comments.
So lets move onto the data for the week:
Headline Data
We’ve been excluding FRA’s for quite some time, and now we’re able to quickly look at not just which SEF, but also which days the activity occurs. We can clearly see the ICAP Reset appears to have run on Tuesday. We’re also now able to break this down by currency.
Week on Week
Looking back 5 weeks, we can see we have reverted to the mean. If anything we might be seeing client activity pick up, which could be rationalized.
What We’re Up To
We at Clarus have been normalizing the SDR data and presenting this to users for quite some time. I’m happy to confirm we are on path to match the arrival of SEF’s with the launch of the SEF reporting tool seen in this blog. We’re looking forward to bringing the same kind of transparency to the world of SEFs. More to come on this topic as we work out the details.
UPDATE
This weekly issue of SEF updates is not the most current. To see all SEF posts, including the most recent, please click through to the SEF Category.