An unprecedented overhaul of the securities industry is taking place under politically mandated reform. This is forcing markets and regulators to work more closely together to ensure that there is no repeat of the recent financial crisis. Writer Frances Maguire

US and European regulators want as many over-the-counter derivatives as possible to be traded on exchanges or cleared through a central counterparty but the foreign exchange market will not go quietly. Writer Frances Maguire

New legislation for over-the-counter derivatives from the European Commission next year will include a central counterparty directive. But what are the implications of the new law? Writer Frances Maguire

Post-trade processing is an expensive overhead for financial firms, while the potential operational risk associated with trade breaks and bottlenecks is attracting increasing regulatory scrutiny. Writer, Frances Maguire

While investors remain cautious, Frances Maguire finds that they are looking to the foreign exchange market for its low correlation with the equity market and using structuring to access it.

In the wake of the collapse of two major banks - Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns - global custodian banks are persuading increasingly wary hedge fund managers to consider placing some of their assets into their relatively safe hands, rather than risk placing everything with prime brokers. Writer Frances Maguire

Growing competition in the post-trade clearing and settlement infrastructure, brought about by MiFID, could dramatically reshape Europe's custody market. Writer Frances Maguire

Even with the creation of Continuous Linked Settlement Bank (CLS), foreign exchange settlement risk persists, with a large number of currencies remaining outside the scope of the industry utility. How much risk persists, and how can it be eliminated? Writer Frances Maguire.

In recent months, the securities lending market has suffered from a febrile equities environment and ongoing restrictions on short-sell positions. Can the introduction of central counterparty services restore the sector’s fortunes? Writer Frances Maguire.

While the current market turmoil has slowed lending volumes, the industry is still going ahead with tackling the processing inefficiencies of the secondary loan market. Writer Frances Maguire.