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The Bank of England has now opened applications for its Contingent NBFI Repo Facility (CNRF). The facility will enable non-banks such as DB pension schemes, LDI funds and insurers to access cash following an increase in demand for liquidity during times of severe market stress.
Head of Derivatives & Structured Products Jonathan Gilmour, Partner Joseph Wren, Senior Associate Nicholas Baines and Associate Nick Morgan have authored a chapter on derivatives at fund level in the latest edition of Global Legal Insights' annual fund finance publication. This chapter highlights some key structuring and legal issues that should be considered by a private capital manager thinking about entering into derivatives transactions at fund level as part of its risk management or investment strategy.
The UK Treasury has indefinitely extended the exemption from mandatory clearing for UK pension schemes using derivatives to manage investment risks that relate to the solvency of the scheme.
Jonathan Gilmour, Head of our Derivatives & Structured Products Group and member of the Governance Committee of the UK Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) Forum, answers the team's most frequently asked questions surrounding VCMs and the potential implications for investors.
This article was first published in GLI - Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation 2025.
We are very proud to continue to be the Contributing Editor of the recently published International Comparative Legal Guide (ICLG) to Derivatives 2024.
In December 2022, the European Commission published its proposals for a regulation ("EMIR 3.0") amending the European Market Infrastructure Regulation ("EMIR"). On 13 February 2024, following negotiation and political agreement with the EU Parliament, the Council of the European Union released the final text of EMIR 3.0, which is expected to be published in the Official Journal pending Parliament's approval.
The Pensions Regulator (the "Regulator") has updated the questions for Defined Benefit ("DB") and Hybrid schemes to answer in this year's Scheme Return (which will need completing by 31 March 2024).
Head of Derivatives & Structured Products Jonathan Gilmour, and Partners Peter Hughes and Joseph Wren have authored a chapter on derivatives at fund level in the latest edition of Global Legal Insights' annual fund finance publication. This chapter highlights some key structural and legal issues that should be considered by a private capital manager thinking about entering into derivatives transactions at fund level as part of its risk management.
This article was first published in GLI - Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Regulation 2024.
Travers Smith LLP has advised the Trustees of BAE Systems Pensions Schemes on the outsourcing of the investment management of approximately £23bn of pension scheme assets to Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). The appointment of GSAM as its Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) is the largest OCIO appointment in the UK to date.
In their recent "In Practice" article, "The initial margin "big bang": the aftermath", Derivatives & Structured Products Partner Joseph Wren and Derivatives & Structured Products Associate Nick Morgan consider the key issues and challenges that remain for buy-side entities following the final phase-in of initial margin requirements under EMIR and UK EMIR. If your business is impacted by any of the topics considered in this briefing, please do get in touch with the authors or your usual Travers Smith contact.
We are very proud to continue to be the Contributing Editor of the recently published International Comparative Legal Guide (ICLG) to Derivatives 2023.
Assessment of the employer covenant (the legal obligation and financial ability of scheme employers to support their defined benefit ("DB") scheme now and in the future) underpins any discussion of DB scheme funding between the trustees of the DB scheme and the employer group. However, monitoring the employer covenant is an important trustee responsibility at all times, not just when a triennial valuation and funding discussion is underway.
This was the fourth buy-in transaction with Legal & General, securing in total the benefits of approximately 67,000 members. Travers Smith advised the Scheme on its three previous buy-in transactions in November 2021, May 2022 and January 2023 as part of the Scheme's strategic partnership with Legal & General.
Following a protracted consultation process, each of the EU and the UK has now finalised its revised requirements for trade reporting under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation ("EMIR") following the revision of EMIR in 2019 ("EMIR Refit").
Jonathan Gilmour, Peter Hughes and Joseph Wren have co-authored a chapter in the latest edition of Global Legal Insights' annual fund finance publication highlighting the key structural and documentary legal issues that should be considered by a private capital manager thinking about entering into derivatives transactions at fund level. This chapter was first published in GLI - Fund Finance 2023 (Seventh Edition).