Since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, OTC Derivatives have been subject to momentous changes in their regulation, affecting all firms that indulge in these financial products. However, for many people working within the financial services industry OTC Derivatives remain a complex mystery and a real challenge to understand.

Derivatives are nowadays a global phenomenon; many types of derivative product have been introduced to mitigate risks of investors and other institutions such as banks. For those that are not involved in such products on a day-by-day basis, understanding of the purpose of each product type is not easy to ascertain, thereby making the understanding of associated operational actions (e.g. trade processing and collateral management) challenging to comprehend.  For each product, its purpose and possible outcomes must be well understood by operations and other personnel within financial institutions to provide top quality servicing of clients and to avoid processing losses. Therefore, it is essential that those financial specialists involved in derivative processing and associated collateral management, understand the overall picture to identify risk situations as early as possible in the transaction life cycle.

Join if you want to know:

• The primary concepts of OTC Derivatives
• How exposures arise in OTC Derivatives and risk mitigation techniques used in associated collateral management
• The regulatory requirements introduced under EMIR for both centrally cleared and non centrally cleared OTC Derivative trades

MasterClass includes:

• Specific and exceptional educational insights combining modern theories and practical examples
• Workshop using advanced international experience and knowledge of high-level expert
• Special materials and templates for future use by the participants in their work

Who Should Attend:

The MasterClass will be beneficial for the financial industry professionals from:

• Banks and institutional investment companies: pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance companies, in particular for:
  • Asset managers, in the role of: traders, portfolio managers, sales managers, middle-office personnel, operations (back-office) personnel including those from derivative trade processing/derivative collateral management/reconciliation/static data, compliance, risk management, legal
• Central securities depositories or custodian organisations
• Central counterparties and trade repositories
• Management consulting firms
• Software companies (business analysts and programmers)

By the end of the MasterClass, the participants will:

• Be aware of the fundamental purpose and structure of derivative products
• Understand the similarities/differences between exchange traded derivatives and OTC derivatives
• Recognise the processing lifecycle of a range of derivative products
• Understand what causes exposures in OTC Derivative trades and the purpose of collateral
• Appreciate the role of legal documentation and associated collateral management
• Comprehend the reasons for and detail of the EMIR regulation
• Understand the treatment of both centrally cleared and non centrally cleared trades
• Appreciate the many practical difficulties, challenges and risks

The Trainer: 

Michael (Mike) Simmons is a specialist in the field of financial services operations; he has been involved with the capital markets and operations throughout his career.

Since 1995, he has been writing and delivering training programs to audiences of mixed vocation and experience, including operations staff, front-office personnel, compliance and risk officers, legal personnel, consultants and IT professionals.  Such programs include securities operations (incorporating the trade lifecycle), repos and related collateral, securities lending & borrowing and related collateral, corporate actions (fundamental and intermediate), derivative operations (exchange-traded derivatives, OTC derivatives (including CDS & IRS) and related collateral) and related central clearing under EMIR, loan syndication (primary & secondary markets), clearing & settlement, fails & fails management, end-to-end process flow, and risks & controls in operations.

Mike’s training programmes have been delivered in the UK, US, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Irish Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Tunisia.

Mike has delivered over 1400 training courses to investment banks, fund managers, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, supranational organisations, management consultants, central securities depositories, custodians, central counter-parties, software companies and data vendors.  A particular feature of Mike’s courses is the emphasis placed on risks within operations, and the associated controls.

Mike is the author of three books:

• Securities Operations; a Guide to Trade and Position Management
• Corporate Actions; a Guide to Securities Event Management
• Collateral Management; a Guide to Mitigating Counterparty Risk

published by John Wiley & Sons.