Derivatives clearing and settlement: a comparison of central counterparties and alternative structures

Most exchange-traded and some over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives are cleared and settled through clearinghouses that function as central counterparties (CCPs). Most OTC derivatives are settled bilaterally. This article discusses how these alternative mechanisms affect the functioning of derivatives markets and describes some of the advantages and disadvantages of each.Banks and banking, Central ; Derivative securities ; Clearinghouses (Banking)

What is clearing and why is it important?

In the financial market disruption of 2007–08, the once arcane topic of clearing of financial products took center stage in major policy debates. Generally speaking, clearing has to do with the nuts and bolts of the contractual performance of financial products after they have been traded.Clearinghouses (Banking)

International regulatory cooperation after the crisis

The heads of state of a broad coalition of nations, the Group of Twenty (G-20), met in September 2009 in Pittsburgh to chart the course of recovery from the financial crisis and set internationally agreed-upon objectives for the reform of regulatory policy.Financial crises ; International Monetary Fund

Policymakers, researchers, and practitioners discuss the role of central counterparties

This article summarizes a conference, titled “Issues Related to Central Counterparty Clearing,” cosponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the European Central Bank on April 3–4, 2006. The conference brought together industry executives, policymakers, and research economists to evaluate current public policy issues involving central counterparties.Banks and banking, Central ; Risk management ; Clearinghouses (Banking)

Normal Forms for Algebraic Specifications of Reusable Ada Packages

This paper introduces the concept of normal forms for algebraic specifications of Ada packages defining abstract data types. The normal form is used in the process of reusable software component retrieval via formal specifications. We review the use of algebras for the specification of abstract data types. Then, using a concrete example, we define normal forms and present the details of algorithms to automate the normalization process

A Tool for Reusable Software Component Retrieval via Normalized Specifications

This paper introduces the concept of reusable software component retrieval using normalized formal specifications. Reusable Ada software components are stored in a software base that supports a rapid prototyping system called CAPS (Computer Aided Prototyping System). Each component in the software base has a corresponding formal specification. A query in the form of a formal specification is used to search for candidate components that will satisfy the requirements of the query. The specification languages used are the Prototype System Description Language (PSDL) and OBJ3. Each specification is normalized to facilitate component retrieval. This paper describes the software base model, syntactic and semantic normalization, and the component retrieval mechanisms

CAPS as a requirements engineering tool

The process of determining user requirements for software systems is often plagued with uncertainty, ambiguity, and inconsistency. Rapid prototyping offers an iterative approach to requirements engineering to alleviate the problems inherent in the process. CAPS (the Computer Aided Prototyping System) has been built to help software engineers rapidly construct software prototypes of proposed software systems.We describe how CAPS as a prototyping tool helps firm up software requirements through iterative negotiations between customers and designers via examination of executable prototypes.This research was supported in part by the DoD Ada Joint Program Office under grant number DWAM10100 (Ada Technology Insertion Program) and by the National Science Foundation under grand number CCR-9058453

Reusable software component retrieval via normalized algebraic specifications

Efforts in the software engineering community to reuse code are hampered by a lack of tools. Reusability is particularly beneficial in a rapid prototyping environment. Rapid prototyping with automated reusable software component retrieval is a software development method to rapidly construct and adapt software, validate and refine requirements, and check the consistency of proposed designs. This dissertation describes a tool used within the Computer Aided Prototyping System (CAPS), developed at the Naval Postgraduate School, which retrieves reusable components from a software base using a formal specification as the search key. The query specification that represents a design requirement is compared to formal specifications of Ada reusable software components stored in an object-oriented database management system. A syntactic search compares specification interfaces, identifying reusable candidates based on types of parameters. The semantic search rank orders a set of candidate components based on semantic similarity to the query. The methods, called query by consistency, compares terms that are reduced in the axioms of each specification. Specifications are normalized to facilitate the matching between query specifications and reusable component specifications in the retrieval. A formal proof verified that query by consistency can retrieve components guaranteed to meet specified requirements.http://archive.org/details/reusablesoftware00steiCaptain, United States Air ForceApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited