In an effort to aid its corporate clients as well as the Obama administration's plans to bring transparency to the $592 trillion over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market, Reval, a global provider of derivative risk management and hedge accounting solutions, announced today its intent to serve as a trade repository for OTC derivatives used by corporate end-users.
According to the Administration's white paper on Financial Regulatory Reform released on June 22, all OTC derivatives are to be recorded in a trade repository for regulators to monitor systemic risk, gain transparency and efficiency, control market manipulation and ensure that derivatives are sold properly. "All" OTC derivatives include those used by companies to hedge business exposure to fluctuating interest rates, foreign exchange rates and commodity prices.
"Since its inception a decade ago, Reval has specialized in helping companies value and effectively account for derivative products used to hedge business risk," says Reval CEO and Co-founder Jiro Okochi. "We are already, in fact, a trade repository for corporate end-users of OTC derivatives. With our ability to book, manage risk, value and account for derivatives across all asset classes, we have the technology and expertise today to help clients comply with whatever may become law and to help regulators obtain the reports they will require. Whether the idea of a trade repository takes the form of a sole repository or multiple repositories, Reval will certainly have a role to play in assisting its corporate clientele and the government."
According to Okochi, in order to support the objectives of the proposed reform, a repository "should be able to book a multitude of standardized or customized transactions and be able to report on, among other things, open positions, fair values, total exposure by counterparty, notional volumes, and any new margin or capital requirements."
Reval's single-version Web-based software platform hosts over 250 clients in North America and in Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions. Reval assists companies in complying with accounting regulations for OTC derivatives and in obtaining pricing that is independent from bank valuations. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is also used by three out of the Big 4 accounting firms. It is secure and SAS 70 Type II compliant, which means its controls and processes are independently validated by a Big 4 auditor, meeting the most stringent conditions required for certification. Such certification meets the regulatory needs of clients who seek compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) provisions.