Search Results
Discussion Paper
Towards Increasing Complexity: The Evolution of the FX Market
The foreign exchange market has evolved extensively over time, undergoing important shifts in the types of market participants and the mix of instruments traded, within a trading ecosystem that has become increasingly complex. In this post, we discuss fundamental changes in this market over the past twenty-five years and highlight some of the implications for its future evolution. Our analysis suggests that maintaining a healthy price discovery process and fostering a level playing field among participants are areas to watch for challenges. The consequences of the evolution of the FX ...
Speech
Opening Remarks: Public Policy Symposium on OTC Derviatives Clearing
A speech delivered by Charles Evans before the Public Policy Symposium on OTC Derivative Clearing on September 3, 2010, in Chicago, IL.
Journal Article
The Zero Lower Bound Remains a Medium-Term Risk
Financial markets—specifically derivatives—contain information about the range of probable future short-term interest rates. The information from this statistical distribution can help measure the perceived risk of interest rates returning to the zero lower bound in the future. The risk varies over time, driven mainly by the expected level of interest rates. At longer forecast horizons, a higher risk of returning to the lower bound primarily reflects a higher amount of uncertainty. Currently, the perceived risk appears slim over the next few years but is significant at longer horizons.
Newsletter
Taking a Deep Dive into Margins for Cleared Derivatives
Central counterparties (CCPs) are institutions that become the buyer to every seller and seller to every buyer in cleared markets. By design, CCPs have a matched book of positions. As a result, their liabilities to clearing members with winning positions are exactly matched by incoming payments from those on the losing side of positions.
Speech
The LIBOR Countdown Has Not Stopped
Remarks at the IMN Virtual Investors' Conference on LIBOR.
Speech
A Resolution for 2021: No New LIBOR
Remarks at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association’s LIBOR Transition Forum (delivered via videoconference).
Journal Article
Can Broader Access to Direct CCP Clearing Reduce the Concentration of Cleared Derivatives?
In November 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis, leaders from the Group of Twenty (G20) nations, representing the world’s largest economies, convened in Washington, DC, to develop a new regulatory framework to help foster financial stability. They came out of that Washington summit with several noteworthy ideas.1 One was to strengthen over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets, where defaults had been serious problems during the financial crisis. In particular, G20 leaders agreed to move more of this business onto regulated exchanges and central counterparties (CCPs) as a way ...
Journal Article
The failure resolution of Lehman Brothers
This study examines the resolution of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in order to clarify the sources of complexity in its resolution and to inform the debate on appropriate resolution mechanisms for financial institutions. The authors focus on the settlement of Lehman?s creditor and counterparty claims, especially those relating to over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, where much of the complexity of Lehman?s bankruptcy resolution was rooted. They find that creditors? recovery rate was 28 percent, below historical averages for firms comparable to Lehman. Losses were ...
Speech
SOFR and the transition from LIBOR: remarks at the SIFMA C&L Society February Luncheon, New York City
Remarks at the SIFMA C&L Society February Luncheon, New York City.
Journal Article
Derivatives and Collateral at U.S. Life Insurers
Although insurers represent a relatively small part of the derivatives markets, they are an interesting case study, in part because they report very detailed information about their derivatives positions and associated collateral in quarterly regulatory filings. The authors exploit these data to study how derivatives are used by insurers and analyze the likely impact of regulatory reforms on their business models.