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Key Findings from DSB Consultation on OTC ISINs

Industry looks to DSB for additional use cases for OTC ISINs
Following extensive consultations with industry which began earlier this year in May, ending July 27th, the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB), has today announced the publication of their Industry Consultation Report, August 2018.
This report comprehensively captures industry feedback, and documents a significant call from industry for the DSB to create additional use cases for ISINs on OTC Derivatives.
As well as the industry’s calls for additional use cases for ISINs, as a direct result of consultations the DSB will also be implementing changes to the DSB Product Committee, to ensure for even broader industry participation and engagement. These changes will be complemented by further improved service levels, which will increase hours of operation to 24 x 6.5, and publication of monthly ISIN analytics as the DSB continues to improve its transparency and accountability model. The DSB has integrated industry feedback into the Consultation Report, which will be a benchmark going forward for further ISIN development and DSB governance.
The DSB is founded by the Association of Numbering Agencies (ANNA) to facilitate the allocation and maintenance of International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) for OTC Derivatives. With industry collaboration at its core, this latest DSB consultation called for detailed industry comment on a broad range of topics, including revision of user categories and the fee model, changes to DSB functionality, service levels and access and user agreements.
Emma Kalliomaki, Managing Director of ANNA and the DSB, said, “The DSB welcomes this high level of industry engagement and enthusiasm for driving change as we navigate numbering of OTC Derivatives together. We are listening intently to industry opinion, and for the most part, the sentiment has now shifted to exploring how to move forward with additional use cases to bring more ISIN efficiency that the industry needs. We take our role as governance of OTC Derivative ISINs very seriously, and we are excited to continue to find ways that ISINs and the DSB can help the market.”
Malavika Solanki, a member of the DSB Management Team, said, “We base our decisions on the industry, and the industry is telling us that they want to get more involved, which is great news for us. There will be some changes to the operating model of the Product Committee and its size, which will make it even easier to engage with the DSB and discuss how we can work together to find solutions which will continue to benefit the market as a whole. Industry feedback has also resulted in the recent introduction of a change request process to allow users to directly feed into the product evolution process. So we would encourage those interested to contact us and get involved.”
The Consultation questions were shared with all 373 organisations in the DSB user community, alongside subscribers to the DSB updates, trade associations and other interested parties. All responses are publicly available and available to view here.
In conjunction with releasing the Consultation Report, the DSB has also published the draft User Agreement and associated policies, giving visibility over the draft changes and an opportunity to comment, with a final version being published 20th September 2018.
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Bitcoin, ether hit fresh highs

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Bitcoin hit a fresh high in Asian trading on Saturday, extending a two-month rally that saw its market capitalisation cross $1 trillion a day earlier.
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency rose to an record $56,620, taking its weekly gain to 18%. It has surged more than 92% this year.
Bitcoin’s gains have been fuelled by evidence it is gaining acceptance among mainstream investors and companies, such as Tesla Inc, Mastercard Inc and BNY Mellon.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and daily volume, hit a record $2,040.62, for a weekly gain of about 12%.
Ether is the digital currency or token that facilitates transactions on the ethereum blockchain. In the crypto world, the terms ether and ethereum have become interchangeable.
Ether futures contracts launched on derivatives exchange CME earlier this month.
(Reporting by Vidya Ranganathan; Editing by William Mallard)
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World Bank pushing for standard vaccine contracts, more disclosure from makers

By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank is working to standardize COVID-19 vaccine contracts that countries are signing with drug makers, and is pushing manufacturers to be more open about where doses are headed, as it races to get more vaccines to poor countries, the bank’s president said on Friday.
World Bank President David Malpass told Reuters he expected the bank’s board to have approved $1.6 billion in vaccine funding for 12 countries, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Ethiopia, by the end of March, with 30 more to follow shortly thereafter.
The bank is working with local governments to identify and fill gaps in distribution capacity, after they purchase vaccines under a $12 billion World Bank program, and also to standardize the contracts they are signing with manufacturers, he said.
The bank’s International Finance Corp, its private financing arm, has $4 billion to invest in expanding existing production plants or building new ones, including in developed countries, but needs more data on where current production is headed, he said.
“We are eager to be investing in new capacity, but it’s hard to do because you don’t know how much of the existing capacity is already committed to the various off-takers,” Malpass said in an interview with Reuters. New or expanded plants could be used to produce other types of vaccinations in the future, he said.
The bank’s funds could be used to expand plants in advanced economies, if the production was earmarked for developing nations, he said.
Malpass welcomed Friday’s pledge by the Group of Seven rich countries to intensify cooperation on the pandemic, saying it could help jump-start deliveries of vaccines to poorer countries, which are lagging far behind rich countries in getting shots in arms.
Data compiled by Our World In Data, a scientific online publication, showed Israel was leading the world in COVID-19 vaccinations, with nearly 82 of 100 people vaccinated, while India and Bangladesh reported less than one person per 100, Many African countries have not started at all.
Malpass said he was heartened by news about new vaccines coming down the road, and about Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE seeking permission to store their vaccine at higher temperatures, which would ease another obstacle to deliveries in lower-income countries.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Leslie Adler)
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Google to evaluate executive performance on diversity, inclusion

By Paresh Dave
(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google will evaluate the performance of its vice presidents and above on team diversity and inclusion starting this year, the company said on Friday in one of several responses to concerns about its treatment of a Black scientist.
Timnit Gebru, co-leader of Google’s ethical artificial intelligence research team, said in December that Google abruptly fired her after she criticized its diversity efforts and threatened to resign.
Alphabet and Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai ordered a review of the situation. While Google declined to share specific findings, the company announced on Friday it will engage human resources specialists during sensitive employee departures.
Pichai in June said that by 2025, Google aims to have 30% more of its leaders come from underrepresented groups, with a focus on Black, Latinx and Native American leaders in the United States and female technical leaders globally. About 96% of Google’s U.S. leaders at the time were white or Asian, and 73% globally were men.
As a result of the investigation, the company also expanded a commitment announced in June to devote more resources to retaining and promoting existing employees, including by expanding a team addressing disputes among workers and their managers.
The diversity component of executive performance reviews was not previously announced, and the company did not immediately share details about what would be measured and how pay would be affected.
Alphabet for years had rejected proposals from shareholders and employees to set diversity goals and tie executive pay to them.
Irene Knapp, a former Google employee who advocated for one such proposal at a 2018 shareholder meeting, said on Friday, “I am pleased that they met our demand from 2018, which was a bare minimum that should have been easy to do immediately.”
Evaluating managers on diversity goals is becoming more commonplace. McDonald’s Corp on Thursday tied executive bonuses to diversity.
(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)