Additional Transparency for Secondary Market Transactions of Treasury Securities

On October 10th, Sia Partners published the results of a detailed study of investors in Treasury securities of impacts enhanced public reporting may have on the Treasury market. The study findings were posted to the Regulations.gov website.. The project was directed by Bradley Ziff, an Operating Partner at Sia Partners and SIFMA, a global trade association. The report was issued in response to a U.S. Department of Treasury RFI (Request for Information) related to identifying possible structural reforms in the US Treasury market.  

The Sia Partners study included ‘one on one’ interviews with 60 industry investors and a group of larger primary dealers in the US Treasury market. The study was global involving participants from the U.S., UK, EMEA, APAC, Canada and Latin America. Investor study participants included Pension Funds, Hedge Funds, Insurance Companies, Asset Managers, Central Banks and Alternative Investment Managers along with the core liquidity providers for Treasury products.  The study covers a range of issues on the impact of enhanced transparency on both ‘on and off the run’ Treasury securities, the ability to manage that risk in a more transparent environment, and specific questions on the impact on market participants if various transparency approaches were implemented.  

The Department of the Treasury’s transparency initiative is part of a broader package of potential Treasury market reforms which also includes several other proposals on reform of banking regulation, expanded access to the Federal Reserve’s repo facility (SRF) and greater use of centralized clearing. Ziff, who spoke to each of the participants several times surrounding these topics commented: “participants were clear that the foremost concern was to ensure that these policy initiatives are researched carefully, and if appropriate, implemented in a prudent and calibrated manner to expand liquidity in the Treasury market and not diminish it.  Our study points to meaningful areas of challenge and concern that investors in particular identified that need to be considered, especially in the less liquid ‘off the run’ securities market, before significant changes should occur.” 

“The study conducted by Sia Partners on Treasury Product public dissemination identifies critical issues facing both investors and banks throughout the U.S.”, noted Eric Blackman, Partner and US Head of Capital Markets and Corporate Banking at Sia Partners. “The findings of our work suggest there are meaningful operational and reporting challenges that need to be considered if a revised transparency approach is implemented.”