The will they-won’t they soap opera of European FFX margin regulation is likely drawing to a close. As promised in their 24 November announcement, the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESMA, EBA and EIOPA) published a draft amendment to the EMIR Margin RTS. The amendment does clarify matters by excising the announcement’s “most likely”, confirming that […]

On 13 October 2017, the CTC and the EU announced substituted compliance determinations in respect of margin requirements for OTC derivatives. The determinations accept that the CFTC’s Final Margin Rule and EMIR’s risk mitigation and margin requirements are sufficiently comparable on a substantive outcomes basis. For those interested in reading the full text, we recommend […]

The Final Frontier On 17 November 2016, ISDA published a “Supplemental Rules Exhibit” (the “EMIR Supplement”) to the ISDA 2016 Variation Margin Protocol (the “Protocol”).  The purpose of the EMIR Supplement is to enable adherents to the Protocol to integrate amendments for margin rules for OTC derivatives in order to achieve compliance with EMIR[1] into […]

The FT website is reporting unnamed sources which confirm that Council approval of the EU non-cleared margin rules will be slightly delayed until 21 November. The Council is relatively free from formal procedures for approval and has been the subject of intense, but quiet, lobbying by investment banks keen to avoid the unfortunate coincidence of […]

As expected the European Commission has today adopted the EMIR non-cleared margin RTS. The adoption is in the form of a Delegated Regulation which will be subject to an objection period by the Parliament and the Council. While both bodies are entirely capable of lodging late-stage objections, as evidenced by the recent PRIIPS paralysis, such […]

Background EMIR introduced a clearing obligation in relation to “OTC derivative contracts” of any class that has been declared subject to a clearing obligation and which are transacted between particular types of counterparty[1].  MiFIR[2] extended the scope of the clearing obligation to all derivative transactions concluded on a regulated market.  There are three basic ways […]

Today marks the publication of the EMIR IRS Clearing RTS in the Official Journal (OJ) of the EU, crystallising the exact timeline for the obligation. The clearing of interest rate swaps will become mandatory according to the following schedule: Category 1- 21 June 2016 Category 2 – 21 December 2016 Category 3 – 21 June […]

The EU Commission has today adopted delegated legislation mandating the central clearing of certain interest rate swaps (IRS).  The mandate covers IRS denominated in EUR, GBP, JPY and USD in the form of: Fixed-to-float IRS; Float-to-float IRS; Forward rate agreements (“FRA”); and Overnight index swaps (“OIS”). (“Covered Transaction Types”).  Certain Covered Transaction Types executed in […]

In response to member demand, ISDA has published a standardised EMIR Classification Letter. The letter serves as the bilateral equivalent to ISDA Amend’s online classification tool, enabling parties to exchange formal notice of their status  with respect to EMIR’s clearing and risk mitigation obligations. ISDA have also published an accompanying Guidance Note to assist in the […]