On February 10, European Commissioner (EC) Jonathan Hill and US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Timothy Massad, announced a common approach regarding the requirements of central clearing counterparties (CCPs). This marks an important step towards the overall harmonization of the cleared derivatives markets. Russell Goyder, PhD, Director of Quantitative R&D discusses how the common approach is a positive step for derivatives markets, but firms are not on easy street quite yet.