...January 2013 Prudential Standard APS 112 Capital Adequacy: Standardised Approach to Credit Risk Objective and key requirements of this Prudential Standard This Prudential Standard requires an authorised deposit-taking institution to hold sufficient regulatory capital against credit risk exposures. The key requirements of this Prudential Standard are that an authorised deposit-taking institution: • must apply risk-weights to on-balance sheet assets and off-balance sheet exposures for capital adequacy purposes. Risk-weights are based on credit rating grades or fixed weights broadly aligned with the likelihood of counterparty default; and • may reduce the credit risk capital requirement for on-balance sheet assets and off-balance sheet exposures where the asset or exposure is secured against eligible collateral, where the authorised deposit-taking institution has obtained direct, irrevocable and unconditional credit protection in the form of a guarantee from an eligible guarantor, mortgage insurance from an acceptable lenders mortgage insurer, a credit derivative from a protection provider or where there are eligible netting arrangements in place. APS 112 - 1 January 2013 Table of contents Authority ........................................................................................................... 3 Application ....................................................................................................... 3 Interpretation...
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...Gold Standard By phil42 | Studymode.com With the Gold Standard, the US economy would print currency that equaled a specific value of gold. Meaning, you could cash in your money for a specified amount of gold because a unit of currency = a specific amount of gold. The limitations to Governments was that they could not spend what they wanted because the amount of currency in circulation had to correspond to the amount of gold in reserve. Nixon, eliminated the Gold Standard, I think during the Vietnam war. As a result, the currency in circulation today does not have to be backed up by anything, not gold, not anything. That's why we see trillion dollar deficits today. Politicians can spend what they want regardless of the real economic downfalls that eventually have to be dealt with. Nowadays, on a side note, our US debt is fianced by foreign governments such as the Chinese and others. This means most of debt the US government owns is owed to foreign investers. The answer to whether having Gold Standard is good or not is based on who you ask. Economists will have one answer, politicians will have another. The phrase “gold standard” is defined as the use of gold as the standard value for the money of a country. If a country will redeem any of its money in gold it is said to be using the gold standard. The U.S. and many other Western countries adhered to the gold standard during the early 1900’s. Today, however, gold’s role in the worldwide monetary system is negligible....
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...Outlining the major objectives of your essay • Analyse the major factors causing global financial crisis • Analyse the role of OTC derivatives in triggering the global financial crisis • Recommend the ways to control the OTC market in the future The origins of the global financial crisis There are several factors causing global financial crisis: 1. Growth of housing bubble & Subprime lending o particular advantage of low long-term interest rates was the US mortgage market. American households traditionally took out fixed-rate mortgages, often guaranteed by the government-sponsored enterprises, the GSEs. As rates fell, households refinanced in large numbers, but this extra origination business dried up once rates started to rise again. Rather than shrink their business, US mortgage lenders pursued riskier segments of the market that the GSEs did not insure, as Graph 4 shows. This included the sub-prime segment, but also so-called ‘Alt-A’ and other non-standard loans involving easier lending terms. At the time, this was considered a positive development, because it was thought that it allowed more people to become home owners. Products requiring low or no deposit, or with a low introductory interest rate were known as ‘affordability products’. They allowed households to pay the very high housing prices that their own stronger demand was generating. o http://www.rba.gov.au/Speeches/2009/_Images/150409_so_graph4.gif o As the US housing...
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...WP/09/173 Counterparty Risk, Impact on Collateral Flows, and Role for Central Counterparties Manmohan Singh and James Aitken © 2009 International Monetary Fund WP/09/173 IMF Working Paper Monetary and Capital Markets Department Counterparty Risk, Impact on Collateral Flows and Role for Central Counterparties Prepared by Manmohan Singh and James Aitken 1 Authorized for distribution by Inci Ötker-Robe August 2009 Abstract This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. Counterparty risk in the United States stemming from exposures to OTC derivatives payables (after netting) is now concentrated in five banks―Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citi. This note analyzes how such risks have shifted over the past year. We estimate that the adverse impact of counterparty risk on high-grade collateral flows and global liquidity due to decrease in rehypothecation, reduced securities lending, and hoarding of cash by major banks is at least $5 trillion. In order to mitigate counterparty risk, there have been regulatory initiatives to establish central counterparties (CCPs). From a policy perspective, counterparty risk remains large at present and recent experience...
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...However, in the context of growing integration of the Indian economy with the rest of the world, as also the continued development of financial markets, a need has been felt to make available a wider choice of hedging instruments to the market participants to enable them to cope better with their currency risk exposures. India has been experiencing heightened cross-border flows in recent times with globalization and relaxations in the rules governing external transactions. The flows have been strong on both current and capital accounts. There has also been some increase in volatility in exchange rates due to global imbalances and changing dimensions of the capital flows. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Triennial Central Bank Survey 2007, the share of India with daily turnover at USD 34 billion (daily average) has increased from 0.3 per cent in 2004 to 0.9 per cent in 2007. The depth in the domestic foreign exchange market is validated by the BIS survey data. Currently, hedging of foreign exchange risk is possible only on the OTC market using forwards, currency swaps and options. Currency and interest rate swaps are permissible for hedging long - term exposures. The use of these products is subject to certain requirements as laid down in terms of FEMA Notification 25, which normally permits hedging of transactions backed by...
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...11/19/2009 Economist.com Derivatives Over the counter, out of sight Nov 12th 2009 From The Econom ist print e dition Derivatives are extraordinarily useful—as well as complex, dangerous if misused and implicitly subsidised. No wonder regulators are taking a close look Illustration by Otto Dettmer IN 1958 American onion farmers, blaming spec ulators for the volatility of their crops’ prices, lobbied a congressman from Michigan named Gerald Ford to ban trading in onion futures. Supported by the president-to-be, they got their way. Onion futures have been prohibited ever since. Futures are agreements to trade something at a set price at a given date. They are perhaps the simplest example of a derivative, a contract whose value is “derived” from the price of a c ommodity or another asset. Derivatives c ontinue to be vilified, usually when someone loses a lot of money. Orange County and Procter & Gamble lost fortunes on them in the 1990s. They were at the core of Enron’s failure. And in September 2008 they brought American International Group (AIG), a mighty insurer, to its knees. Its fetish for credit default swaps (CDSs), a type of derivative that insures lenders against borrowers’ going bust, led it to guarantee at least $400 billion-worth of other c ompanies’ loans—inc luding those of Lehman Brothers. The Americ an government forked out $180 billion to save AIG from collapse. Every catastrophe brings c alls for restrictions on derivatives. This year Joseph Stiglitz...
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...Counterparty credit risk in portfolio risk management Prominent financial institution failures reminded market participants that over-the-counter derivatives bring counterparty credit risk. Even as these markets move towards settlement through clearing houses, significant volumes of existing and new transactions remain bilaterally settled, especially as non-standard derivatives may not qualify for central clearing. UBS Delta is providing tools for clients to measure counterparty exposure alongside other investment risk Prudent risk management of credit portfolios includes measurement and limitation of exposure to individual issuers to manage concentration risk. Investment portfolios will have limits, for example, on percentage of current value invested in securities issued by “Bank XYZ”. Where over-the-counter (OTC) derivative counterparties are also issuers of securities held, counterparty risk may be incremental to issuer exposure. If a portfolio includes a swap with Bank XYZ as the counterparty, then exposure to them failing on that swap should be considered alongside exposure to them failing on their debt issues. Counterparty credit risk measurement Counterparty exposure is properly measured not just by the current value of trades with a counterparty, but also by how this value can move as markets move. Where sets of trades with counterparties feature multiple risk drivers/asset classes, modelling the potential exposure becomes a complex problem. Many investment banks have...
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...illustrate how a default swap works. Using a credit default swap, CBI would make a periodic fee payment to First American Bank in exchange for receiving credit protection. First American Bank would assume the credit risk of the additional loan to CapEx Unlimited (CEU) by guaranteeing a payment to CBI if CEU defaulted on its debt. Banks are generally going to be the net buyers of credit protection while insurance companies tend to be selling these contracts. Hedge funds are other big players in this type of derivative and utilize CDS to speculate on credit risk. The recent housing market crisis and subsequent AIG bailout has led to new regulation and the implementation of a central clearinghouse for all CDS trades. This means that each CDS between two parties must also be accepted by the central clearing house (or the CCP)....
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...Derivatives: The fair value is estimated by the difference between the contractual forward price and the current forward price for the residual maturity of the contract .The fair value of interest rate swaps and currency options are based on figures provided by calculating agents/counterparties. Those figures except for currency options are tested for reasonableness by discounting estimated future cash flows based on the terms and maturity of each contract and using market interest rates for a similar instrument at the measurement date. Hedging: Amendments to MFRS 139 ‘Financial Instruments: Recognition and Measurement’ (effective from 1 January 2014) provide relief from discontinuing hedge accounting in a situation where a derivative, which has been designated as a hedging instrument, is no voted to affect clearing with a central counterparty as a result of law or regulation, if specific conditions are met. Exposure: The Group has exposure to the following risks from its use of financial instruments: -Credit risk: Credit risk is the risk of a financial loss to the Group if a customer or counterparty to a financial instrument fails to meet its contractual obligations. The Group’s exposure to credit risk arises principally from its receivables from customers, investments, bank and cash balances and derivative instruments. -Liquidity risk: Liquidity risk is the risk that the Group will not be able to meet its financial obligations as they fall due. The Group’s exposure to liquidity...
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...tank of 15 leading financial economists in an attempt to provide direction on financial system reforms that might help anticipate and alleviate future Systemic Crisis. The report was written in 2008 in response to the crisis that was ongoing at that time. It is good to note that getting 15 scholars to agree on 37 recommendations is something worth of appraisal. However, one cannot but point that the report is somehow disjoint in its arrangement of chapters. I articulate that this slight disorder is because of the limitations of making 15 experts agree. This disjoint attribute has not prevented the report from being very constructive and direct in addressing very important policies and sensible issues relevant to reform. The paper has two central principles that the recommendation have been built on. The first is that policymakers have to consider how new regulations will affect not only individual firms, but also the financial setup as a whole. The second principal states that firms should be responsible for the costs of their failure and excessively risky positions. This principal aims at protecting taxpayers, the innocent bystanders, from the wrong doings of irresponsible corporate planning on the behalf of greedy market participants. These two principles can be considered the core of what is really the Squam Lake Group’s philosophy. Yet the report has its shortcomings. The...
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...Chapter 8: Institutions and Procedures in Secondary Markets A. Exchanges and Floor Markets The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 defined an exchange to be: any organization, association, or group of persons, whether incorporated or unincorporated, which constitutes, maintains, or provides a market place or facilities for bringing together purchasers and sellers of securities or for otherwise performing with respect to securities the functions commonly performed by a stock exchange as that term is generally understood, and includes the market place and the market facilities maintained by such exchange. An exchange is typically a physical or virtual meeting place drawing together brokers, dealers and traders to facilitate the buying and selling of securities. Thus, exchanges include the floorbased markets as well as many virtual meeting sites and screen-based systems provided by Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs). In the United States and most other countries, exchange transactions are executed through some type of auction process. Exchanges in the United States are intended to provide for orderly, liquid and continuous markets for the securities they trade. A continuous market provides for transactions that can be executed at any time for a price that might be expected to differ little from the prior transaction price for the same security. In addition, exchanges traditionally served as self-regulatory organizations (SROs) for their members, regulating and policing their...
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...illustrate how a default swap works. Using a credit default swap, CBI would make a periodic fee payment to First American Bank in exchange for receiving credit protection. First American Bank would assume the credit risk of the additional loan to CapEx Unlimited (CEU) by guaranteeing a payment to CBI if CEU defaulted on its debt. Banks are generally going to be the net buyers of credit protection while insurance companies tend to be selling these contracts. Hedge funds are other big players in this type of derivative and utilize CDS to speculate on credit risk. The recent housing market crisis and subsequent AIG bailout has led to new regulation and the implementation of a central clearinghouse for all CDS trades. This means that each CDS between two parties must also be accepted by the central clearing house (or the CCP). Acceptance of the...
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...are relatively low-risk debt instruments. The maturities of money market instruments range from one day to one year and are often less than 90 days. It comprises of the call and notice money market, repo market and the market for debt instruments. There is no physical "money market." Instead it is an informal network of banks and traders linked by telephones, fax machines, and computers. Banks financial institutions, companies and government are the key participants in the money market. The size of the transactions in the money market typically is large ($100,000 or more). At the center of this web is the central bank whose policies have an important bearing on the interest rates in the money markets. The money market provides an equilibrium mechanism for levelling out the demand and supply of short term funds and serves as a focal point for the intervention by the central bank (RBI in India) for influencing the liquidity and interest rates in the financial systems.The money market is important for businesses because it allows companies with a temporary cash surplus to invest in short-term securities; conversely, companies with a temporary cash shortfall can sell securities or borrow funds on a short-term basis. In essence the market acts as a repository for short-term funds. Large corporations generally handle their own short-term financial transactions; they participate in the market through dealers. Small businesses, on the other hand, often choose to invest in money-market...
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...Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Basel III: The Liquidity Coverage Ratio and liquidity risk monitoring tools January 2013 This publication is available on the BIS website (www.bis.org). © Bank for International Settlements 2013. All rights reserved. Brief excerpts may be reproduced or translated provided the source is cited. ISBN 92-9131- 912-0 (print) ISBN 92-9197- 912-0 (online) Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1 Part 1: The Liquidity Coverage Ratio ..................................................................................... 4 I. Objective of the LCR and use of HQLA......................................................................... 4 II. Definition of the LCR ..................................................................................................... 6 A. Stock of HQLA ..................................................................................................... 7 1. 2. Operational requirements ........................................................................... 9 3. Diversification of the stock of HQLA.......................................................... 11 4. B. Characteristics of HQLA ............................................................................. 7 Definition of HQLA .................................................................................... 11 Total net cash outflows...
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...3 Enlargement of electronic networks of individual banks and interoperability 17 5 Business Process Modeling and Architecture of the New NPS 19 5.1 The central role of electronic data exchange in the new NPS 19 5.2 Centralized clearing of large value payments 21 5.3 Centralized versus decentralized clearing of retail payment instruments other than cheques 22 5.4 Centralized versus decentralized clearing of cheques 24 5.5 Overall architecture of the NPS 25 5.6 The NPS communication network 31 6 Outline of the Strategic Plan 38 6.1 Core elements of the strategic plan 38 6.2 Systems and facilities to be acquired 39 6.3 Efficient use of modern technology to reduce investment costs and to avoid possible underutilization of the systems 39 7 Working out of the Core Elements 43 7.1 Development of a legal framework and physical infrastructure that will Support the new NPS 43 7.2 The communication network 46 7.3 The infrastructure for large value and time critical payments 48 7.4 Payment instrument mix and access to payment services 52 7.5 The upgrading of the systems for payment processing of commercial banks and connection of branches to the head office 54 7.6 The infrastructure for clearing and settlement of retail payments 55 7.7 Cross border payments 60 7.8 The infrastructure for the clearing and settlement of securities 62 7.9 The oversight framework 67 8 Phasing and...
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