BNP Paribas has selected FIS’ Cleared Derivatives Margin Advisor, a solution that enables sell-side firms, investment funds and institutional investors to better assess and calculate initial margin requirements on cleared derivatives portfolios.

FIS’ Cleared Derivatives Margin Advisor replicates margin requirements for current or hypothetical portfolios in real-time across the diverse exchange traded derivatives market supported by FIS post-trade systems. The solution can connect with FIS back-office systems or integrate into any trading or position-management system to provide an automated calculation for initial margin. Because it is cloud-based, FIS’ Cleared Derivatives Margin Advisor is quick to deploy and easily scales to meet the performance requirements of organisations large and small.
 
BNP Paribas, one of the world’s largest banks, is using the FIS solution to increase its visibility around initial margin on its cleared derivatives transactions.
 
“FIS’ Cleared Derivatives Margin Advisor gives us much greater visibility into margin requirements across the many business lines and customers we support today,” says Gael Pottiez, head of Product Development, Derivatives Execution & Clearing, BNP Paribas. “By partnering with FIS, we are able to deliver a self-service margin solution to our risk teams and end-customers in a cost-efficient way.”
 
“Being able to quickly and precisely calculate initial margin is critical for institutional investors, investment funds, proprietary trading groups and sell-side firms,” says Martin Boyd, head of Institutional & Wholesale business, FIS. “Margin Advisor is a good example of using advanced automation technology to help firms like BNP Paribas better manage their business and enhance their operations.”
 
Initial margin, also known as a good faith deposit, is the capital required to hold an open derivatives position according to clearinghouse rules. Calculating initial margin on a cleared derivative transaction is a critical back-office function for both sell-side and buy side firms to allocate requirements and ensure accounts are not capital deficient.