Recently, SIFMA hosted our 2018 Annual Meeting, The Capital Markets Conference. With a day and a half of presentations and events, we gained insights into top-of-mind topics for market participants. Inside this note, we recap just some of what was seen and heard, including:

The transition away from LIBOR

It is estimated $200 trillion of financial contracts and securities ($190 trillion in derivatives; $10 trillion in corporate bonds, mortgages, securitized products, credit card receivables, etc.) are tied to LIBOR and that matters to everyone – small businesses, corporations, banks, broker dealers, consumers and investors.

 

TMPG, creating best practices for market participants

The Treasury Market Practices Group (TMPG) is a group of market professionals committed to promoting sound market practices to support the integrity and efficiency of the Treasury, agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities markets, including establishing best practices for market participants.

(Still) seeking global harmonization

The global financial system adopted an unprecedented volume of new regulations since the financial crisis, affecting everything from market structure to capital standards. Various policymakers acknowledge some changes may have gone too far, adversely impacting market efficiency and liquidity at the expense of economic growth potential. At our conference, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Christopher Giancarlo spoke about his recent white paper which paper assesses the CFTC’s current regulatory cross-border framework.

Should we be bracing for a hard Brexit?

With less than 180 days until the U.K. leaves the EU (March 29, 2019) and just two years until the transition period ends in 2020 (if a deal is reached), the realities of Brexit are in focus. Market participants are wondering if a deal can be reached in time or will it be a hard Brexit? Our conference panelists walked through different scenarios for structures of a Brexit deal, as well as what happens if no deal is reached.

Analyzing – and deploying – fintech opportunities

Technology has forced firms to constantly strive to improve the customer experience (the Amazon effect), and many financial services firms continually review fintech opportunities to enhance product and services offerings for customers. Technology is not the destination; the destination is the client, with technology as a way to serve them better. At our conference, operational and technology leaders discussed the focus of fintech innovation, the ABCDs of fintech.

Author

Katie Kolchin, CFA
Senior Industry Analyst
SIFMA Insights