Officials with the European Central Bank say the EU's plan for greater supervision over clearinghouses violates the ECB's independence, and potentially affects monetary policy decisions and emergency liquidity provisions.

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank will discuss a potential merger. The German Finance Ministry has not commented on reports that it wants the banks to merge.

Clearinghouse risk committees need to consult with banks more when they consider clearing risky products such as bitcoin, executives from JPMorgan Chase and Societe Generale told the FIA conference. The banks have become more concerned since a default at Nasdaq in September forced members to cover €114 million in losses.

Singapore Exchange is seeking to get more adoption and users of its iron ore derivatives contracts in the US as global trading activity increases during US business hours. Derivatives head Michael Syn said during the FIA conference that educating the US market is important and that the exchange has added five US-based staff to its North American business development team in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

The Financial Stability Board's Official Sector Steering Group is warning that when Libor publication is discontinued, some market participants would face a severely disrupted market because they would be forced to continue using Libor-based derivative contracts. The steering group is seeking trigger language that would enable participants to switch to a new benchmark.

The Canadian Securities Administrators and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada are asking financial-technology firms for input into establishing regulatory requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms. IIROC head Andrew Kriegler says the goal is to provide clarity to the market while protecting investors.

Traders of Treasurys fear a sluggish market could see even less volatility if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. The Federal Open Market Committee meets Tuesday and Wednesday.

There is an opening for firms offering custody services for cryptoassets due to a lack of expertise among traditional custodians, according to a TABB Group study. Monica Summerville, research director at TABB, says traditional custodians can tap into subcustody or agent-type arrangements with cryptocustodians.

Small farmers would find it easier to get their products included in the commodity derivatives market using blockchain technology since it would not require the large capital needed to trade on exchanges, says Manav Garg, CEO of tech firm Eka. Use of blockchain and cryptocurrency would lower the barrier to entry for smaller producers under the current exchange-owned system, Garg says.

Traders are seeing more of Brazil's sugar cane being converted to ethanol rather than sugar, cutting global sugar output. Some traders predict a wider global sugar deficit this year.