Die aufsichtsrechtliche Erfassung der Zentralen Gegenpartei im schweizerischen Kapitalmarkt : Eine Momentaufnahme des Status quo und eventueller Risikopotenziale

The engagement of a central counterparty (CCP) leads beyond doubt to an improvement of efficiency in the financial markets. The main function of a CCP is the elimination of the counterparty risk for the participating trading partners. In fact the counterparty risks of the traders are turned into a market risk for the central counterparty. Hence the transfer of risk causes a risk reduction for the trading partners but also implies a danger to the market in case a CCP should default. The subsequent review concludes that the legal framework in Switzerland seems to be sufficient to manage this threat and protect investors as well as the stability of the financial market adequately. However the evaluation of x-clear identified a potential risk in the links to other interoperating CCPs. While the regulators differ about how to handle the additional risk arising from links between CCPs the author emphasizes that a solution based only on an exchange of margins can harbour inherent peril, whereas the augmentation of its own default fund would confine a possible systemic contagion. Above all there is a need for transnational agreement on how to manage the additional risk.