Whether you're a futures industry professional, commercial hedger, fund manager or professional trader, it is important to understand the critical role that clearing plays in reducing the risk of counterparty default, guaranteeing the financial performance of all contracts and safeguarding customer funds.

Instructor, John P. Davidson whose leadership roles at both futures and equities clearinghouses and global intermediaries make him uniquely qualified to teach this course. 

Buyers and sellers in exchange transactions rely on clearinghouses to intermediate transactions and to manage credit risks between trading parties. As such, clearinghouses promote transparency, efficiency, and stability by providing market-based pricing, sophisticated margining systems, daily settlement, and adequate capitalization through their risk mutualization to ensure markets function well even in exigent situations. 

Join us for a virtual instructor-led workshop that explains the sophisticated systems that provide the infrastructure for clearing and settling derivatives and other financial transactions among clearing member financial institutions. The program will include relevant case studies to demonstrate clearinghouse functions and the impact and outcome of actual clearing events as well as an overview of the regulatory environment supervising these critical functions.

Learning Outcomes

After the workshop you will be able to:

• Understand financial market infrastructure with an emphasis on the critical functions and benefits of central counterparty (CCP) operations.
• Describe the key roles of clearing parties including CCPs, clearing members, customers, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Reserve System.
• Explain the principles of novation and how CCPs reduce processing costs, enable multilateral netting, and prevent the accumulation of losses.
• Know the basic portfolio margining methodologies at the CME, ICE and the Options Clearing Corporation.
• Describe the CCP's default waterfall used to satisfy the obligations of a defaulting clearing member as well asl the assessment powers that operate in situations where possessory liens are insufficient to cover "fat tail" exposures.
• Recognize the similarities and differences in cleared swaps and over-the-counter markets.
• Understand past defaults and the lessons learned from them.

Who Should Attend?

The virtual, instructor-led workshop is suited for a broad range of participants including:

• Users of cleared derivatives markets such as institutional investors, money managers, producers/suppliers, as well as manufacturing and distribution companies
• Support, operations, sales, and marketing personnel at global brokerage firms
• Public policymakers
• Staff in trading, risk management, financial and legal departments
• Potential users of futures, options and swaps markets

Level:  Fundamental

Duration and Format:  Virtual instructor-led workshop is delivered in 90-minute sessions on two (2) consecutive days. Course hours are convenient for most U.S. participants and many global attendees.

Qualify for a Discount?  FIA Member firms and their employees are eligible for discounts on courses. FIA members include more than 300 financial services firms as well as fund managers, commercial hedgers, global exchanges, technology vendors, and legal and other professional services providers.