AIMA Launches OTC Derivatives Clearing Guidelines |
Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Author: AIMA.org
London – 1 July 2014: The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global hedge fund industry association, has launched OTC derivatives clearing guidelines for asset managers.
AIMA’s Guide to Sound Practices for OTC Derivatives Clearing provides guidance on the new regulatory framework in the US and European Union, which affects most OTC derivatives transactions cleared globally.
The Guide to Sound Practices is supplemented by a Due Diligence Questionnaire for Clearing Members, which is intended to help asset managers during the process of evaluating different clearing members and clearing houses.
The drafting of both papers was assisted by Simmons & Simmons, the international law firm, and Seward & Kissel LLP, the U.S. law firm, and supported by a Working Group of AIMA’s manager and sell-side members. The papers are sponsored by CME Group.
Jack Inglis, AIMA CEO, said: “These guidelines are unprecedented in detail and scope. We hope they are of use to our member firms as they set out to navigate the increasingly complex legal and operational requirements introduced under the post-crisis OTC derivatives clearing reforms.
“I would like to pay tribute to the Working Group of our buy-side and sell-side members for their substantial input, and in particular to Simmons & Simmons and Seward & Kissel for their time and expertise in helping AIMA to draft the Guide and DDQ. I also would like to thank CME Group for their unstinting support during the project.
“This initiative underlines our shared commitment to central clearing, which reduces counterparty credit risk and systemic risk, and to the role that we all can play in helping to ensure the smooth and timely implementation of these important regulatory reforms.”
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Note to editors
AIMA’s Guide to Sound Practices for OTC Derivatives Clearing and Due Diligence Questionnaire for Clearing Brokers can be downloaded via the AIMA website.
The GSP is here: http://www.aima.org/en/utilities/no-access.cfm/restrictedGRAid/594F960D-91A5-4873-823484147D0FCAAE
The DDQ can be accessed via this page: http://www.aima.org/en/education/Industry-standard-ddqs.cfm
Both documents are available to AIMA member firms.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Christen Thomson, AIMA’s Deputy CEO, Head of External Affairs
Tel: +44 (0)20 7822 8380
Email: cthomson@aima.org
About AIMA
As the global hedge fund association, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has over 1,400 corporate members (with over 7,000 individual contacts) worldwide, based in over 50 countries. Members include hedge fund managers, fund of hedge funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms, investors, fund administrators and independent fund directors. AIMA’s manager members manage a combined $1.5 trillion in assets (as of March 2014).
All AIMA members benefit from AIMA’s active influence in policy development, its leadership in industry initiatives, including education and sound practice manuals, and its excellent reputation with regulators worldwide.
AIMA is a dynamic organisation that reflects its members’ interests and provides them with a vibrant global network. AIMA is committed to developing industry skills and education standards and is a co-founder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation (CAIA) – the industry’s first and only specialised educational standard for alternative investment specialists. For further information, please visit AIMA’s website, www.aima.org.