FSA issues proposed guidance on survey report of derivative risk management practices

07 December 2010

FSA carried out a survey of twelve asset managers to consider their derivative risk management practices. Associated risks were highlighted as issues in the 2009 Financial Risk Outlook.

 The survey concentrated on six areas. In general, oversight strengths and weaknesses at the firms were mixed across the topics; but there were no firms which showed weak practices across all the areas. 

Three themes emerged as inconsistently addressed across the twelve sample firms: 

1. The firms’ approaches to monitoring and reporting their derivative risks.
2. All of the firms evaluated whether fund managers had a proper understanding of the derivatives they sought to use. It was less clear the extent to which the firms sought to ensure board members, fund directors and staff in settlement and monitoring functions understand the risks around derivatives.
3. The firms had differing definitions of market and counterparty risk and as a result, the oversight processes varied greatly in frequency, content, and depth of analysis, particularly regarding unsettled trades, margin money and prime broker collateral monitoring.

Full survey



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