Securities finance repo news | OFR adopts final rule to improve transparency in US repo market
The Office of Financial Research (OFR) has adopted a final rule to improve transparency within the US repo market. It will establish a data collection for non-centrally cleared bilateral transactions to achieve this.
This collection of data requires daily reporting to the OFR by US covered reporters with large exposures to the non-centrally cleared bilateral repo (NCCBR) market.
It will be used to support the work of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, its member agencies, and will help the OFR identify and monitor risks to financial stability.
The final rule will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
It establishes two categories of financial companies subject to reporting, a timeline for submission of data depending on the category of covered reporter, and a number of specific data elements required to be reported.
Commenting on the announcement, James Martin, acting director of the OFR, says: “After receiving recommendations from the Council and others to obtain better data on the NCCBR market — currently the largest of the four repo market segments — the OFR set out to establish a permanent NCCBR data collection.
“The OFR consulted with the Council, held extensive discussions with market participants, successfully completed a pilot data collection, and carefully considered public comments on our proposal.”
He believes that the OFR’s permanent data collection will “shine a spotlight into this opaque corner of the financial market”, provide high-quality data on NCCBR transactions, and remove a “significant blind spot” for financial regulators.
