For two years, the biggest question overhanging derivative markets has been how much OTC business gets pushed into exchanges and clearing houses as regulators clean up the damage of the credit crisis. Now, we are about to find out. Non-financial companies think they have won some kind of exemption but they dont know how much. And as Sin Williams reports, hardly anyone seems to know how much mandatory clearing would cost anyway.
Ever since the financial crisis began, banks have been calling on politicians and regulators not to overreact. Considering the banks recent achievements, many may feel disinclined to listen.
But in the past year a different group has begun to issue similar warnings industrial companies. Unlike the banks, they do not fear that new laws will deliberately curtail their activities. What worries them is the drive to push derivatives on to exchanges and in to central counterparty (CCP)...