ESMA has issued the final draft RTS for CDS clearing. `The draft defines the type and sub-type of CDS that will be subject to the clearing obligation and the dates from which it will apply. The draft stipulates that clearing will initially apply to the following two CDS classes: ID Type Sub-type Geographical Zone Reference […]

The CFTC has published its proposed amendments to Part 45 Reporting Rules in the Federal Register. The proposal’s 166 pages are a partial answer to the panoply of concerns raised in the March 2014 questionnaire, which highlighted inconsistencies between SDRs, onerous data standardisation requirements, ambiguity for end-users and duplication of data throughout the clearing process, […]

ESMA yesterday published it fourth consultation paper on the EMIR clearing obligation. The consultation seeks feedback on an extension to the clearing RTS for interest rate swaps, the “final” draft of which was published 0n 1 October 2014. The consultation proposes to add the following classes and currencies to mandatory clearing: Vanilla fixed-to-floating IRS in: CZK, DKK, HUF, […]

On Friday, ESMA published the responses it received to the third consultation paper on the clearing obligation under EMIR (ESMA/2014/1185).  The consultation paper outlines the regulatory technical standards (RTS) on foreign-exchange non-deliverable forwards (FX NDF) under Article 5(2) of EMIR. The proposed structure excludes physically settled FX contracts with cash-settled forwards subject to mandatory clearing […]

The Bank of England yesterday announced that it is widening access to its Sterling Monetary Framework to include broker-dealers and CCPs. “Specifically, from today, those broker-dealers deemed critical to the stability of the UK financial system (designated investment firms) and CCPs that operate in UK markets and are either authorised under EMIR or recognised by […]

The EC yesterday adopted its first equivalence decisions for the jurisdictions of CCPs in: Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. CCPs in these countries will now be able to achieve full recognition by the EU, retaining their qualifying status for reduced capital charges past the 15 December 2014 deadline. Congratulations are due to those countries’ […]

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published the responses it received to its second consultation paper (ESMA/2014/800) focussing on the credit default swap (CDS) classes subject to the clearing obligation under EMIR.  Earlier this year, ESMA determined that some interest rate swaps (IRS) and credit default swap classes should be subject to central […]

ESMA has launched the first round of consultations in preparation for OTC derivative central clearing. Triggered by the authorisation of the first six CCP’s, each defining a new timeline per unique asset class; ESMA has released different consultation papers for IRS and CDS. Feedback will contribute to the final RTSs submitted to the EC in […]

On 4 July 2014, Keler CCP received the authorisation from the Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) to act as a CCP under EMIR.  Keler CCP is the ninth to be authorised, which leaves 13 outstanding applications in the pipeline. Keler CCP is authorised to clear the following classes of financial instruments: MiFID financial instruments / […]