News Centre

Remarks Of CFTC Commissioner Pham To Keynote At The Cato Institute’s “Staying Ahead Of The Curve: Crypto Regulation And Competitiveness” Conference

Date 07/09/2023

Sterling Trading Tech Accelerates Its Global OMS Growth, Industry Veteran Mike Baradas Leads Effort

Date 07/09/2023

Sterling Trading Tech (STT), a leading provider of trading technology including a proprietary order management system, a risk and margin system, and trading platforms for the capital markets worldwide, announced today the appointment of industry veteran Michael Baradas as OMS Product Manager.

Joint Statement Of The IMF Managing Director And Of The World Bank President

Date 07/09/2023

Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank issued today a joint statement:

“The world confronts significant economic challenges, the existential threat of climate change as well as a digital transition, all in the context of more frequent shocks, high debt levels, limited policy space in many countries and rising geopolitical tensions. Well-designed and appropriately sequenced policies are critical to help accelerate growth, alleviate policy trade-offs, and support the green and digital transitions. The Bretton Woods institutions have a critical role to play to help member countries address the challenges and leverage the opportunities, working closely together and with partners."

BIS: Margins, Debt Capacity, And Systemic Risk

Date 07/09/2023

We lay out a stylised accounting framework for system-wide debt capacity, when debt serves both as an obligation of the borrower, and also as the collateral pledged by the lender to secure additional funding. Our focus is on fluctuations in margins and leverage. Changes in margin (and the corresponding fluctuations in leverage) are reflected in the fluctuations in the balance sheet size of market participants and in the financial system's broader risk-taking capacity. A sharp increase in margins, especially after a protracted period of thin margins, will tighten financial conditions for the whole system. We use our framework to provide a perspective on the liquidity imbalances that rocked financial markets in March 2020, amid the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Statement Of CFTC Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson Regarding CFTC Consent Order Imposing $1.7 Billion In Restitution Against South African Commodity Pool Operator

Date 07/09/2023

Today, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC or Commission) announced the entry of a consent order against Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI) by the Hon. David A. Ezra of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas. MTI and its CEO, Cornelius Johannes Steynberg, engaged in an international multi-level marketing scheme by which they solicited and accepted nearly 30,000 bitcoin from at least 23,000 people located in the U.S. for participation in a commodity pool that purportedly traded retail foreign currency on a leveraged, margined, and/or financed basis. MTI misappropriated virtually all of the money instead. The order imposes restitution of over $1.7 billion against MTI, and effectively concludes a case that the CFTC filed in June 2022.

Canadian Securities Administrators Release Year In Review

Date 07/09/2023

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) today published its consolidated Year in Review. This report highlights the progress the CSA has made between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, towards fulfilling its mandate to improve, coordinate and harmonize regulation of the Canadian capital markets and achieving the strategic goals outlined in its 2022-2025 Business Plan. 

BIS: The Oracle Problem And The Future Of DeFi

Date 07/09/2023

Key takeaways

• Crypto-based decentralised finance (DeFi) uses "oracles" to import real-world data into blockchain environments for use in smart contracts.
• Whether oracles can truly adhere to the complete decentralisation ethos of crypto is debatable. Even if feasible in practice, striving for the ideal of full decentralisation leads to complex consensus protocols that further erode blockchain efficiency.
• While introducing some degree of centralisation in oracles might boost efficiency, it also means adding trusted parties to a system designed to be trustless. As a result, crypto-based DeFi is likely to remain the preserve of cryptoassets only, rather than being used for real-world assets.

CFTC: Federal Court Orders South African Company To Pay Over $1.7 Billion In Restitution For Forex Fraud - This Action Resolves The CFTC’s Largest Fraud Scheme Case Involving Bitcoin

Date 07/09/2023

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced Judge David A. Ezra of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered a consent order against Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI) on September 6, finding it liable for fraud in connection with retail foreign currency (forex) transactions, fraud by a commodity pool operator (CPO), registration violations, and failure to comply with CPO regulations. MTI is a company currently in liquidation in the Republic of South Africa. 

BIS: MREL For Sale-Of-Business Resolution Strategies

Date 07/09/2023

Highlights

• Making the European bank failure management framework suitable for mid-sized banks requires facilitating sale-of-business transactions by ensuring both adequate financial support from the deposit insurance fund and the availability of sufficient assets that could be transferred to an acquirer.
• Under the current financial cap, support by deposit insurers is limited by the costs (net of recoveries) they would incur if paying out covered deposits in a bank liquidation. That crucially depends on the ranking of deposit insurance fund claims in the creditor hierarchy. The ability to transfer sufficient assets is directly linked to the minimum requirement for eligible liabilities (MREL).
• As a minimum, MREL should aim to help close the expected gap between transferred liabilities and assets, after considering the available support from the deposit insurer. 
• Consequently, calibrations should be based on the prevailing status for deposit insurance fund claims in insolvency and on a structured assessment of three key factors: (i) the estimated (franchise) value of banks' assets; (ii) the proportion of transferred liabilities which are not covered by the deposit insurance fund; and (iii) the liquidation procedure's ability to preserve banks' asset values.

BME Receives Regulatory Approval For Its New Digital Assets Derivatives Segment

Date 07/09/2023

• CNMV’s approval marks a milestone in the Digital Asset Ecosystem, Reinforcing SIX's commitment to innovation and security
• BME Clearing introduces a new segment called Digital Assets Derivatives, that will upgrade the trading, clearing and cash settlement of digital asset futures