Conflicts of Interest in Derivatives Clearing

[Excerpt] The financial crisis implicated the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market as a source of systemic risk. In the wake of the crisis, lawmakers sought to reduce systemic risk to the financial system by regulating this market. One of the reforms that Congress introduced in the Dodd-Frank Act (P.L. 111-203) was mandatory clearing of OTC derivatives through clearinghouses, in an effort to remake the OTC market more in the image of the regulated futures exchanges. Clearinghouses require traders to put down cash or liquid assets, called margin, to cover potential losses and prevent any firm from building up a large uncapitalized exposure, as happened in the case of the American International Group (AIG). Clearinghouses thus limit the size of a cleared position based on a firm’s ability to post margin to cover its potential losses. As lawmakers focused on clearing requirements to reduce systemic risk, concerns also arose as to whether the small number of large swaps dealers in existence—mostly the largest banks—might influence clearinghouses or trading platforms in ways that could undermine the efficacy of the approach. Concerns about conflicts of interest in clearing center around whether, if large swap dealers dominate a clearinghouse, they might directly or indirectly restrict access to the clearinghouse; whether they might limit the scope of derivatives products eligible for clearing; or whether they might influence a clearinghouse to lower margin requirements. Trading in OTC derivatives is in fact concentrated around a dozen or so major dealers. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) estimated that, as of the third quarter of 2010, five large commercial banks in the United States represented 96% of the banking industry’s total notional amounts of all derivatives; and those five banks represented 81% of the industry’s net credit exposure to derivatives. The first group of Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) recipients included nearly all the large derivatives dealers. As a result of the high degree of market concentration, the failure of a large swaps dealer still has the potential to result in the nullification of tens of billions of dollars worth of contracts, which could pose a systemic threat. A 2009-proposed amendment proposed to H.R. 4173, which passed the House, would have limited ownership interest and governance of the new derivatives clearinghouses by certain large financial institutions and major swap participants. Sections 726 and 765 in the final version of the Dodd-Frank Act mandate that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), respectively, must adopt rules to mitigate conflicts of interest. However, it allowed the agencies to decide whether those rules include strict numerical limits on ownership or control. In the CFTC’s proposed rules to mitigate conflicts of interest, published on October 18, 2010, and on January 6, 2011, the CFTC did choose to adopt strict ownership limits, along the lines of the Lynch amendment. The SEC’s proposed rule, published on October 13, 2010, does the same. This report examines how conflicts of interest may arise and analyzes the measures that the CFTC and SEC proposed to address them. It discusses what effect, if any, ownership and control limits may have on derivatives clearing; and whether such limits effectively address the types of conflicts of interest that are of concern to some in the 112th Congress. These rulemakings may interest the 112th Congress as part of its oversight authority for the CFTC and SEC. Trends in clearing and trading derivatives, and the ownership of swap clearinghouses, are discussed in the Appendix

Key Issues in Derivatives Reform

Financial derivatives allow users to manage or hedge certain business risks that arise from volatile commodity prices, interest rates, foreign currencies, and a wide range of other variables. Derivatives also permit potentially risky speculation on future trends in those rates and prices. Derivatives markets are very large—measured in the hundreds of trillions of dollars—and they grew rapidly in the years before the recent financial crisis. The events of the crisis have sparked calls for fundamental reform. ... This report analyzes the issues of derivatives clearing and margin and end users, and it discusses the various legislative approaches to the enduser issue.

A break from pain! Interruption management in the context of pain

Activity interruptions, namely temporary suspensions of an ongoing task with the intention to resume it later, are common in pain. First, pain is a threat signal that urges us to interrupt ongoing activities in order to manage the pain and its cause. Second, activity interruptions are used in chronic pain management. However, activity interruptions by pain may carry costs for activity performance. These costs have recently started to be systematically investigated. We review the evidence on the consequences of activity interruptions by pain for the performance of the interrupted activity. Further, inspired by literature on interruptions from other research fields, we suggest ways to improve interruption management in the field of pain, and provide a future research agenda

Rancang Bangun Sistem Pengunci Otomatis dengan Kendali Akses Menggunakan Rfid Card dan Password Berbasis Mikrokontroler Atmega 16

Technological sophistication is growing in many areas of life. It is characterized by many emerging electronic equipment that a variety of forms and functions. Advances of technology electronics helped in the development of better security systems. One of application is the security system used for safety locker locks using RFID card and password. The safety lock on the locker door is designed by using a dual system that aims the doors of locker which can only be opened by using RFID card and password. RFID card locker serves as the identity and password as the electronic lock. Each RFID card have different id chips, so it is not easy to duplicate. The purpose of making this tool is to design and make a locker lock open or closes the door of locker automatically with access control using RFID card and password

Project Based Learning Untuk Meningkatkan Berpikir Kreatifsiswa SD Pada Materi Makanan Dan Kesehatan

Kenyataan menunjukkan pembelajaran IPA masih berfokus pada buku teks dan jarang menggunakan model pembelajaran yang bervariatif sehingga kreativitas dan penguasaan konsep siswa menjadi terbatas. Tujuan penelitian penerapan model PBL untuk meningkatkan penguasaan konsep peserta didik. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu metode kuasi eksperimen. Penelitian ini dilakukan di SD Swasta Kartika Siliwangi XIX-3 Kabupaten Garut, sampel dalam penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas V yang berjumlah 66 siswa yang terdiri dari kelas eksperimen dan kelas kontrol berjumlah 33 siswa. Analisis penelitian menggunakan N-Gain dan pengujian hipotesis rumus t-test dengan menggunanakan software SPSS 17. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pembelajaran berbasis proyek dapat meningkatkan kreativitas siswa lebih tinggi secara signifikan dibandingkan dengan kelas ekspositori dengan perbandingan di kelas eksperimen N-Gain 0,472 kategori sedang dan kelas kontrol N-Gain 0,223 kategori rendah.Hasil penelitian yang dilakukan menunjukkan hasil uji hipotesis dengan menggunakan t-test hasinya dengan nilai sig 0.009< α yaitu 0,025 artinya ditolak maka terdapat perbedaan peningkatan kemampuan berpikir kreatif antara kelas kontrol dengan kelas eksperimen

Hubungan Iklim Kerja dengan Komitmen Organisasi suatu Studi Evaluasi Kinerja Karyawan ( Kasus Karyawan PT. Telkom Pekanbaru)

Conducive working climate is important in determining the performance of employees.High or absence of organizational commitment in self- employees are also caused by the working climate in the company.If the employment is climate conducive companies can make employees comfortable, and ultimately the commitment of employees in the company formed to even increased. And so the goal can be achieved with good company . The purpose of this research study is to know how existing work on climate PT. TELKOM Pekanbaru, to know how commitment the organization to the staff of PT. TELKOM Pekanbaru and to determine the relationship of working climate and organizational commitment staff of PT. TELKOM Pekanbaru. In analyzing this study used a statistical technique and model used in this study is the Product Moment Correlation .Based on the results of the questionnaire data processing obtained results show that there is a strong relationship between working climate and organizational commitment on the staff of PT.TELKOM Pekanbaru, where the calculation results obtained from the correlation coefficient of 0,699 and hypotheses obtained by calculating t table value of 1,995 with df : 69, and α = 0.05, and t value of 8,1225 . Thus H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted , this means working climate has a significant relationship with organizational commitment on staff of PT . TELKOM Pekanbaru.Thus it can be seen that the working climate has sizable relations with the organizations commitment to the staff of PT. TELKOM Pekanbaru. Keywords : Working Climate , Organizational Commitmen

RANCANG BANGUN SISTEM PENGUNCI OTOMATIS DENGAN KENDALI AKSES MENGGUNAKAN RFID CARD DAN PASSWORD BERBASIS MIKROKONTROLER ATMEGA 16

ABSTRAKKecanggihan teknologi semakin berkembang dalam berbagai bidang kehidupan. Hal ini ditandai dengan banyak bermunculan peralatan elektronik yang bermacam-macam bentuk dan fungsinya. Kemajuan teknologi elektronika turut membantu dalam pengembangan sistem keamanan yang lebih baik. Salah satu aplikasi sistem keamanan adalah untuk pengaman pengunci loker menggunakan kartu RFID dan password . Kunci pengaman pada pintu loker ini dirancang dengan menggunakan sistem ganda yang bertujuan agar pintu loker hanya dapat dibuka dengan menggunakan kartu RFID dan password. Kartu RFID berfungsi sebagai identitas loker dan password sebagai kunci elektroniknya. Setiap kartu RFID memiliki ID chip yang berbeda-beda sehingga tidak mudah untuk diduplikasi.Tujuan dari pembuatan alat ini adalah untuk merancang dan membuat pengunci loker otomatis membuka atau menutup pintu loker dengan kendali akses menggunakan kartu RFID dan password berbasis mikrokontroler ATmega 16. Kata Kunci : RFID, Password, Sistem Pengunci Loker Otomatis, Mikrokontroler ATmega 16.ABSTRACTTechnological sophistication is growing in many areas of life. It is characterized by many emerging electronic equipment that a variety of forms and functions. Advances of technology electronics helped in the development of better security systems. One of application is the security system used for safety locker locks using RFID card and password. The safety lock on the locker door is designed by using a dual system that aims the doors of locker which can only be opened by using RFID card and password. RFID card locker serves as the identity and password as the electronic lock. Each RFID card have different id chips, so it is not easy to duplicate. The purpose of making this tool is to design and make a locker lock open or closes the door of locker automatically with access control using RFID card and password.Key words : RFID, Password, Automatic Locker Lock System, Mikrokontroler ATmega 16

Analisis Pelaksanaan Praktikum Pada Pembelajaran Biologi Siswa Kelas VIII Di SMP Negeri 3 Kuntodarussalam Tahun Pembelajaran 2014/2015

This aim of this study was to known execution of practical work at study of class student biology of VIIIin SMP Country 3 Kunto Darussalam grade academic year 2014 / 2015. This was a descriptive study. Thesampel was the student of class VIIIA and class of VIIIB taken by simple random sampling till reach the amountof sampel as a whole 53 student. Technique intake of data done by using enquette. Data analyzed by usingdescriptive statistics. Result indicated that; 1) Frequency execution of practical work (75%); 2) Studententhusiasm to practical work (77%); 3) Time execution of practical work (69%) and; 4) Preparation andexecution of practical work (78%). Amount of mean percentage of execution of practical work at study ofbiology (75%) have been applied better

Effects of activity interruptions by pain on pattern of activity performance - an experimental investigation

Background and aims: Suspending an ongoing activity with the intention to resume it again later is a natural response to pain. This response facilitates coping with the pain, but it may also have negative consequences for the resumption and performance of the activity. For example, people with pain problems are often forced to take a break from doing their household chores because of their pain. They might delay resuming their chore, eventually needing longer time to finish it. We investigated how activity interruptions by pain influence the pattern of subsequent activity performance. We expected that when an activity is interrupted by pain (compared to non-pain), people spend longer time away from the activity, need longer time to complete it, and are less motivated to perform it. Methods: Sixty healthy volunteers performed an ongoing task that required them to make joystick movements in different directions according to a specific rule. Occasionally, participants received either a painful electrocutaneous stimulus or a non-painful and non-aversive auditory stimulus (between-subjects) as an interruption cue. The interruption cue was followed by the temporary suspension of the ongoing task and the initiation of a different activity (interruption task). The latter required the categorization of cards and had a maximum duration, but participants could also stop it earlier by pressing a button. We measured time away from the (interrupted) ongoing task, total time to complete the ongoing task (including the interruptions) and self-reported motivation to perform both the ongoing as well as the interruption task. Results: Groups did not differ in the time away from the ongoing task, total time to complete the ongoing task, or self-reported motivation to perform the two tasks. Conclusions: Activity interruptions by pain did not impair the pattern of activity performance more than activity interruptions by non-pain. Potential explanations and suggestions for future research are discussed