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Newsletter
Clearing and settlement of exchange traded derivatives
Derivatives are a class of financial instruments that derive their value from some underlying commodity, security, index, or other asset. Futures and options are common forms of derivatives. This article explains how clearing and settlement systems for exchange traded derivatives work.
Newsletter
Foreign exchange trading and settlement: past and present
Since 1989, global foreign exchange turnover (and settlements) has more than tripled, to just over $2 trillion per day. This article expands upon a January 2005 Chicago Fed Letter that described broad clearing and settlement principles, and focuses more specifically on foreign exchange settlement practices, past and present.
Newsletter
Clearing and settlement demystified
This article explains how clearing and settlement systems support a sound financial system. In particular, the article analyzes the role of CCPs (central counterparties) in managing risk in the securities and derivatives markets and some of the relevant public policy issues.
Journal Article
Blockchain and Financial Market Innovation
Blockchain technology is likely to be a key source of future financial market innovation. It allows for the creation of immutable records of transactions accessible by all participants in a network. A blockchain database is made up of a number of blocks ?chained? together through a reference in each block to the previous block. Each block records one or more transactions, which are essentially changes in the listed owner of assets. New blocks are added to the existing chain through a consensus mechanism in which members of the blockchain network confirm transactions as valid. The technology ...
Newsletter
A New Approach to Stock Market Execution
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago has published extensively on the risks and effects of high-frequency trading (HFT) in U.S. financial markets and has in the past expressed an interest in the concept of batch auctions as a potential way to diminish the speed advantage of HFT traders. The Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) recently filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to inaugurate CHX SNAP, an on-demand batch auction service. If and when approved, SNAP auctions would deemphasize speed and allow institutional traders to place large orders, with a reduced risk ...
Discussion Paper
Blockchain and Financial Market Innovation
Blockchain technology is likely to be a key source of future financial market innovation. It allows the creation of immutable records of transactions accessible by all participants in a network. A blockchaindatabase is made up of a number of blocks “chained” together through a reference in each block to the previous block. Each block records one or more transactions, which are essentially changes in the listed owner of assets. New blocks are added to the existing chain through a consensus mechanism in which members of the blockchain network confirm transactions as valid.While all are in ...
Discussion Paper
Non-Default Loss Allocation at CCPs
In this paper, we answer three questions about the appropriate allocation of non-default losses at central counterparties (CCPs): 1) “Who should assume financial responsibility for a non-default loss?”, 2) “What portion of a non-default loss should each party pay?”, and 3) “How should CCPs and clearing members address catastrophic non-default losses?”. To answer the first question, we argue that financial responsibility should be shared among the parties whose decisions contributed to the loss. Determining whose decisions contributed to a loss requires an understanding of the type ...
Journal Article
The Goldilocks Problem: How to get Incentives and Default Waterfalls “Just Right”
Regulatory reforms in the wake of the 2007?08 financial crisis have increased the focus on the systemic importance of central counterparties (CCPs), which guarantee the performance of their clearing members? financial contracts.1 This, in turn, has increased policymakers? and practitioners? focus on risk management at CCPs. A key component of any CCP?s risk-management strategy is the CCP?s default waterfall. The default waterfall stipulates the sequence of financial resources that a CCP can draw upon to cover the unsatisfied financial obligations of a defaulted clearing member. At the top of ...
Working Paper
The Concentration of Cleared Derivatives: Can Access to Direct CCP Clearing for End-Users Address the Challenge?
Cleared derivatives contracts are now concentrated among a small and dwindling number of institutions. Many policymakers and regulators have argued that this concentration has adverse consequences, some of which may have systemic risk implications. The authors explore the benefits and challenges of encouraging major end-users of derivatives to become direct clearing members of central counterparties (CCPs). If done prudently, increasing and diversifying the pool of clearing members and redistributing outstanding derivatives contracts across them may help CCPs become more resilient.