CCPs and network stability in OTC derivatives markets

Among the reforms to OTC derivative markets since the global financial crisis is a commitment to collateralize counterparty exposures and to clear standardized contracts via central counterparties (CCPs). The reforms aim to reduce interconnectedness and improve counterparty risk management in these important markets. At the same time, however, the reforms necessarily concentrate risk in one or a few nodes in the financial network and also increase institutions’ demand for high-quality assets to meet collateral requirements. This paper looks more closely at the implications of increased CCP clearing for both the topology and stability of the financial network. Building on Heath et al. (2013) and Markose (2012), the analysis supports the view that the concentration of risk in CCPs could generate instability if not appropriately managed. Nevertheless, maintaining CCP prefunded financial resources in accordance with international standards and dispersing any unfunded losses widely through the system can limit the potential for a CCP to transmit stress even in very extreme market conditions. The analysis uses the Bank for International Settlements Macroeconomic Assessment Group on Derivatives (MAGD) data set on the derivatives positions of the 41 largest bank participants in global OTC derivative markets in 2012

Creating an Association of Southeast Asian Nations Payment System: Policy and Regulatory Issues

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expected to benefit from the significant growth in the Asia-Pacific payments market. Growth in economic activity would increase the size, scale, and scope of payment transactions. Enabling the scale and scope of payments would in turn increase economic activity. This would also require national payment systems to be regionalized and operate with cross-border and multi-currency capabilities. As existing regional payment arrangements have illustrated how they can be successfully established, ASEAN can itself leverage on its current cooperative forums in creating a more regionalized payment system. In doing so, it faces the following challenges. First, promoting the use of cashless payments would require increased private sector involvement in improving accessibility to basic payment infrastructure, increasing their interoperability, and creating a competitive cross-border retail payment scheme. Second, creating cross-border and multi-currency payment systems could possibly proceed with the interlinking of existing real-time gross settlement systems within the region, and later enlarged, but this would need to be supportive of the broader goals of sequencing financial services liberalization. Third, legal harmonization would need to keep pace with rapid technological and regulatory changes where the introduction of settlement finality legislation is seen as an important precondition to support cross-border payments. Fourth, managing foreign exchange settlement risk would need to be addressed with the growth in global foreign exchange market activities and this would involve the development of risk-reduction features in payment systems. And fifth, enhancing cooperation would involve the creation of regional oversight frameworks and cross-border collateral arrangements as systems become increasingly interconnected and interdependent in the long run