Top Headlines

UK Regulator to Police Seven More Benchmarks – Financial Times (subscription)
The Financial Conduct Authority is to formally regulate a set of currency, fixed income and commodity benchmarks in the wake of the scandal over attempted manipulation of key rates for bank lending and foreign exchange.

• British Regulator to Oversee Seven Additional Financial Benchmarks – The New York Times
• Bringing Additional Benchmarks into the Regulatory and Supervisory Regime (press release)
• FCA Extends Libor Regulation to Additional Benchmarks – Citywire.co.uk

CLS Looks to Expand Third-Party Foreign Exchange Settlement Services in South Korea – Automated Trader
CLS Group has announced its intention to work with settlement members to expand its third-party settlement services in Korea, following the Bank of Korea’s decision to expand the range of FX transactions eligible for CLS payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement to include those of non-bank financial institutions. The Korean won currently accounts for 1.2% of daily currency turnover globally, and the expansion is an important step towards mitigating settlement risk for a wider pool of counterparties.

• Expanding the Range of Financial Institutions Participating in CLS (press release)

Major Changes are Coming Following FX Crackdown – Pensions & Investments
Penalties come as asset owners are paying closer attention to their FX trades, a trend that began after lawsuits in the late 2000s.

Euro Slips After Greece Fails to Elect New President – MarketWatch
The euro moved slightly lower in choppy action on Tuesday after Greece’s parliament failed to agree on a new president in its second ballot.

Ruble Gains Third Day on Report Exporters Ordered to Sell Revenue – Bloomberg
The ruble gained for a third day Tuesday on speculation Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered companies to sell foreign exchange received from exports.

• Informal Capital Controls Arrest Russian Ruble’s Slide – Reuters
• Ruble Strengthens as Russia Forces Exporters to Dump Foreign Cash Reserves – The Telegraph

Regulatory News

CFTC Global Markets Advisory Subcommittee on Foreign Exchange Markets Submits Report (press release) 
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Subcommittee on Foreign Exchange Markets (FEM) has completed a report for the Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC) regarding a prospective clearing mandate for foreign exchange non-deliverable forwards (NDFs). Market participants and members of the public may submit comments and questions regarding the report.

ESMA Publishes Initial Cost Benefit Analysis on MiFID II Proposals (press release)
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) today published a preliminary cost benefit analysis (CBA) in respect of regulatory and implementing technical standards it proposes for MiFID II.

EC Hopes for Swaps Clearing Resolution with US in Coming Year – Profit & Loss (subscription)
The new EU commissioner for financial services and stability, Jonathan Hill, says he would be “very disappointed” if the equivalence rules for swaps clearing cannot be resolved with the US before the 15 June 2015 deadline.

Company News

Thomson Reuters Looks to Watershed Year – FX Week (subscription)
Thomson Reuters is looking to 2015 as the beginning of the end for its mammoth task of integrating its different technologies on one desktop and becoming more effective at providing solutions in an evolving foreign exchange market infrastructure.

MF Global Settles with CFTC – Profit & Loss (subscription)
MF Global has agreed to settle charges of wrongdoing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Market Savvy  

Greek Political Risk Could Weigh on the EUR
BNP Paribas
Political uncertainty in Greece could weigh on the EUR. Despite a number of concessions to the opposition already made by Greek Prime Minister Samaras, he is unlikely to secure enough ‘yes’ votes at the second round of the Presidential vote today (the third and final round is scheduled for 29 December). Another failed vote is likely to lead to a perception of re-emerging eurozone sovereign risk among market participants, probably weighing on the EUR.

Industry Events

• IFM Lifecycle of Derivatives Trades: Uncovering the Middle and Back Office Functions, 22 January in Chicago, IL; 30 January in New York, NY; 12 March in Chicago, IL; 7 May in New York, NY; 14 May in Chicago, IL
• Managed Funds Association’s Network 2015, 26-28 January in Miami, FL
• ACI World Congress 2015, 3-7 February in Milan
• FIA/SIFMA Asset Management Derivatives Forum 2015, 4-6 February in Dana Point, CA
• FX Week Australia, 12 February in Sydney, NSW
• FX Invest Europe, 24 February, Frankfurt, Germany
• AFME 10^th Annual European Market Liquidity Conference, 25 February in London
• FIA International Futures Conference Boca 2015, 10-13 March in Boca Raton, FL