Fully committed to reforms in OTC derivatives: RBI

The Reserve Bank today said India is fully committed to bring in reforms in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets, but its pace and nature will depend on the domestic market conditions.
"India is committed to adopting OTC derivatives reforms. However, the pace and scope of reform implementation depend on the domestic market conditions and characteristics," it said in a report on 'OTC Derivatives Market Reforms'.
In response to the financial crisis that began in 2008, G-20 had initiated a series of reforms designed to strengthen regulation and oversight of the financial system and tasked the Financial Stability Board (FSB) with coordinating the reforms and assessing their implementation.

In India, the OTC derivative products were introduced by RBI in a phased manner, keeping in view the hedging needs of the real sector.
Reasonable progress has been made in enforcing the OTC derivative reform measures since RBI initiated steps for adoption of the G-20/FSB reforms, said the report prepared by an RBI-constituted implementation group.
The group was set up to guide the implementation process of key reform measures being undertaken by FSB.

The important aspect of reforms is a commitment to enhance the regulation of OTC derivatives market so as to improve transparency, mitigate systemic risk and protect against market abuse.

The reform agenda consists of standardisation, central clearing, exchange or electronic platform trading, margining and reporting of OTC derivatives transactions to trade repositories.
The group recommended the proportion of the market that is standardised should be substantially increased in order to further G-20's goals of increased central clearing and trading on organised platforms.
To implement the G-20 commitment effectively, it is necessary to specify the factors that should be taken into account when determining whether a derivative contract is standardised and therefore suitable for clearing, it said.
The report said the roadmap for implementation of reform measures with regard to OTC derivatives has been worked out with timelines extending up to March 2015.

"As some of the milestones are dependent on exogenous variables like improvement in liquidity, there is a possibility the timelines may be revised," it said.