Issue #2 - ISSA, BGC Partners, Euroclear, ICE Clear, FCA, CFTC, Airwallex

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Thanks for subscribing to Global Custody Pro. Our goal is to help you understand what's happening in global custody, clearing, payments, and digital assets. We pick the most important news from many different sources. We want to help you keep up with this important and complex field.

Global Custody News

• BGC Partners and ten global financial institutions have launched the FMX Futures Exchange with SOFR futures. They will introduce U.S. Treasury futures in the first quarter of 2025. LINK

• The International Securities Services Association (ISSA) published its paper “The Future of Securities Services 2024 – 2030”. Senior industry figures from several firms were involved in the working group that produced it. LINK

• Clearinghouse ICE Clear Credit announced that it had processed more than USD1 trillion in notional CDS volume in a single day. LINK

• Unicredit has used derivatives to grow its stake in Commerzbank to 21%. The combined size of the potential entity would be over EUR 1.4 trillion in assets, slightly smaller than Societe Generale and above Deutsche Bank. LINK

• The Financial Conduct Authority is consulting on stricter client asset protection rules for payment providers and fintechs in the UK, including stricter requirements for holding client assets on trust. LINK

• ICSD Euroclear has released a detailed white paper. It explores Europe’s Central Securities Depository (CSD) and post-trade architecture and options for reform and more efficiencies. This paper provides an excellent overview of post-trade plumbing. LINK

• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued final guidance for the trading of voluntary carbon credit derivative contracts. This guidance is directed at designated contract markets (DCMs), which are exchanges regulated by the CFTC. LINK

• A client memo from law firm Paul Weiss highlights the risks from DOJ, FDIC and OCC having slightly different ideas about how they would review a potential big bank merger. LINK

• Citigroup has had its China expansion plans delayed according to a Bloomberg article which claims a regulatory clearance letter for Chinese authorities from the Federal Reserve has not been received yet. LINK

• The Inter-Agency Working Group on Treasury Market Surveillance (IAWG) issued a staff progress report to highlight the wide range of significant steps its members have taken to enhance the resilience of the U.S. Treasury market. LINK

• A recently released Bretton Woods Committee Future of Finance Working Group report proposes practical steps for central banks to enhance liquidity for both traditional and non-traditional financial institutions, aiming to strengthen global financial markets. LINK

• Fintech Airwallex has helped F1 team Maclaren save time and cost on making payments. “For payout transactions, 90 percent arrive within hours, and 65 percent arrive instantly”. The least-boring collaboration in payments? LINK

Digital Asset News

• DTCC and Digital Asset announced a successful test of tokenized US Treasuries as collateral on the Canton Network using its product DTCC LedgerScan. LINK

• The Bank of Canada is no longer going to worry about a local CBDC. Instead it will focus on faster payment rails and other domestic payments priorities. LINK

• The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has started Phase 2 of its e-HKD project. It will work with industry to test more use cases through to the end of 2025. LINK