News & Media
Keep up to date with the latest industry news, updates, white papers and videos.
SBI Alpha, QCP Capital, and Zodia Custody pioneer safer and more transparent way to manage derivatives credit risk with industry-first method
Counterparties conduct first uncleared crypto derivatives trades using unique, bankruptcy-remote, multi-custodian collateral network when executing on regulated Clear Markets platform
TOKYO, Singapore, London, Charlotte June 22, 2023 – SBI Alpha Trading Co. Ltd. and QCP Capital Pte. Ltd., leading counterparties in the institutional crypto market, today announced that they have executed the industry’s first uncleared cryptocurrency options trades using a breakthrough risk management method for crypto derivatives.
The traders used a unique bankruptcy-remote, multi-custodian network to ensure that collateral
• is in place at the time of trade,
• can be bolstered by periodic payments in real time on blockchain
• is protected from loss in the event of a counterparty bankruptcy, and
• is locked in an account at an independent custodian under a tri-party account control agreement, allowing a non-defaulting party to take control of the collateral if necessary.
This method of managing counterparty credit exposure, derived from traditional financial markets practices, eliminates significant risks taken by counterparties of FTX and other crypto trading units that have collapsed. This reduces the cost of moving the collateral and enables increased frequency of variation margin payments, reducing the time between price changes and lowering the credit risk.
It builds on techniques widely used in the multi-trillion-dollar fiat currency swap business, under the sponsorship of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), however this is the first time that this approach is being applied to a cryptocurrency swap and automated on a blockchain.
Source: https://www.clear-markets.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/230622-CM-SBI-Zodia-Press-Release-1.pdf
Clear Markets North America, Inc. signed an agreement with Japan Securities Clearing Corp. to clear interest rate swaps executed on Clear Markets North America, Inc., a CFTC-registered Swap Execution Facility (SEF). The Agreement will enable Clear Markets North America, Inc. to route eligible transactions to JSCC via a JSCC permitted affirmation service. “This agreement will enable Clear Markets immediately begin offering JSCC-cleared JPY swaps to our SEF clients” said Shawn Dorsch, CEO of Clear Markets SEF.
Clear Markets North America, Inc. is a permanently registered Swap Execution Facility (SEF) with the United States Commodity Exchange Commission.
Japan Securities Clearing Corporation is a central counterparty licensed by the Financial Service Agency of Japan (the FSA) to engage in the “Financial Instruments Debt Assumption Service” set fourth in Article 2(28) of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan to provide derivatives clearing services in Japan. JSCC is exempt from registration with the United States Commodity Exchange Commission as a derivatives clearing organization (DCO) within the meaning of the US Commodity Exchange Act, as amended (the CEA) pursuant to the Order of Exemption.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that it has approved the application of Clear Markets North America, Inc. (Clear Markets), granting it fully registered status with the CFTC as a Swap Execution Facility (SEF). Clear Markets previously obtained temporary registration status on May 13, 2014.
SEFs are trading facilities that operate under the CFTC’s regulatory oversight for trading and processing swaps. SEFs were authorized to be created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 to provide greater pre-trade and post-trade transparency to the swaps market.
Clear Markets is a Delaware corporation and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clear Markets Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation.
Upon review of its application, the CFTC determined that Clear Markets has demonstrated compliance with the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the CFTC’s regulations applicable to SEFs. The terms and conditions applicable to this Order include, among others, that Clear Markets shall comply with all provisions of the CEA and all requirements in the CFTC’s regulations, as may be amended or adopted from time to time, that are applicable to SEFs. Clear Markets also shall comply with all representations and submissions made by it in support of its application for registration as a SEF.
The CFTC issued this Order pursuant to Section 5h of the CEA and CFTC Regulation 37.3(b). Registered SEFs must comply with the core principles in Section 5h of the CEA and any CFTC regulations applicable to them.
Including the Order issued today, there currently are 22 SEFs fully registered with the CFTC.
See Related Links for Transmittal Letter and SEF Order.
Source: CFTC http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr7397-16
Order of Registration: http://www.cftc.gov/idc/groups/public/@otherif/documents/ifdocs/orgsefordclr160627.pdf
Japan’s Nikkei media group won U.S. antitrust approval for its $1.3 billion purchase of the Financial Times from Britain’s Pearson PLC, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday.
The transaction was on the list of deals that the FTC and Justice Department granted “early termination,” essentially quick antitrust approval.
Nikkei’s purchase of the Financial Times marks the culmination of decades of attempts to break into mainstream English-language media.
Nikkei, whose flagship newspaper enjoys a must-read reputation for financial news in Japan, previously had a years-long alliance with Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, which ended in the last decade.
Source: Reuters.com
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/02/us-financial-times-nikkei-antitrust-idUSKCN0R21NT20150902
Japanese publisher Nikkei Inc. agreed to acquire the FT Group for 844 million pounds ($1.3 billion), ending almost six decades of control of the Financial Times newspaper by Pearson Plc.
The sale doesn’t include Pearson’s 50 percent holding in the Economist Group and some London property, Pearson said Thursday. The price includes 19 million pounds in cash held by the FT Group. Nikkei’s namesake newspaper is Japan’s biggest business daily.
The deal would be the biggest overseas acquisition by a Japanese media company, Tokyo-based Nikkei said. A sale of FT Group will allow Pearson to focus on tackling a slowdown in its education unit, which has been hampered by declining U.S. college enrollments and falling textbook sales.
“We’ve reached an inflection point in media, driven by the explosive growth of mobile and social,” Pearson Chief Executive Officer John Fallon said in a statement. “In this new environment, the best way to ensure the FT’s journalistic and commercial success is for it to be part of a global, digital news company.”
Pearson shares rose 2.4 percent to 1,238 pence at 4:15 p.m. in London, valuing the company at 10.2 billion pounds. Axel Springer SE, which was said to be in talks to buy the assets, rose 0.1 percent to 50.72 euros in Frankfurt.
The Nikkei is Japan’s most influential business publication, with more than 3 million print and digital subscribers, according to the company’s website. Nikkei has 42 affiliated companies involved in publishing, broadcasting, events, database services and stock indexes.
Digital Subscriptions
Nikkei earned 10.2 billion yen ($82 million) in 2014, according to the company’s website. The FT Group had 2014 revenue of 334 million pounds and 24 million pounds in adjusted operating profit.
First published in 1888 as a four-page newspaper, the FT’s circulation reached 720,000 last year, with digital subscriptions accounting for 70 percent of the total. In a move to make more money from online readers, the newspaper in February tweaked its paywall system, moving away from a metered model that allows readers to view a few free articles every month before requiring them to pay.
Pearson said it plans to put about 90 million pounds of the proceeds into its pension plan.
Evercore Partners Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. provided financial advice to Pearson, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP acted as the company’s legal adviser. Financial advisory firm Rothschild helped Nikkei, which received legal advice from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Washington, DC — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved the application of Clear Markets North America, Inc. (CMSEF) for temporary registration as a swap execution facility (SEF). CMSEF is incorporated in the state of Delaware.
A SEF is a category of CFTC registered entity created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 to provide greater pre-trade and post-trade transparency to the swaps market. CMSEF will be required, as will all future temporarily and fully registered SEFs, to demonstrate continued compliance with all applicable provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and Commission regulations, including part 37, and any future regulations, amendments, guidance, and interpretations issued by the Commission.
As a next step, the Commission will undertake a substantive review of CMSEF’s application for full registration.
Source: http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr6927-14