Tag: European Commission
Brexit – contractual dis-continuity
A question that has been ignored, until very recently, is how firms will deal with cross-border derivative contracts when the UK leaves the EU in March 2019. Leaving the single market without either EEA membership or a trade agreement covering financial services will result in complications for existing derivative contracts. With approximately £26 trillion of […]
SEFs+DCMs=MTFs+OTFs
The transatlantic trading platform cousins have officially been recognised as twins, on 5 November the European Commission announced its long-promised equivalence decision in respect of U.S. swap execution facilities. The CFTC plans to reciprocate by exempting MTFs and OTFs from U.S. registration requirements. The mutual recognition comes just in time before the 3 January 2018 […]
Non-cleared margin rules- EC finger officially removed
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 […]
EU non-cleared fog begins to clear
On 28 July 2016 the EC published a letter to the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), stating that it will endorse a revised text [1] of the RTS on risk mitigation techniques for non-cleared OTC derivatives Article 11(15) of EMIR. The market has been on tenterhooks since 9 June 2016 when the Commission announced that it would […]
EU CCP Capital “zombieline” staggers on
The EC has announced its adoption of an implementing act to extend the transitional period for the application of the CRR to CCPs by a further six months. The Capital Requirements Regulation mandates levels of capital that must be held by EU banking groups against their exposure to central counterparties. The EC had already extended […]
EC`s mission impossible for ESMA
On 26 September 2014, ESMA published a consultation paper on the technical advice to the European Commission on delegated acts required by the UCITS V directive. The consultation paper covers advice on two topics: the insolvency protection of UCITS assets when the depositary delegates custody functions to a third party and the independence requirements between […]
“Spot” the difference
The European Commission has published the responses to its public consultation on FX financial instruments. The April 2013 consultation sought to gauge stakeholder opinion concerning the distinction between an FX financial instrument and a spot FX contract. This delineation has significant implications; a contract which is considered a financial instrument is subject to MiFID requirements. Furthermore, […]
ESMA anoints US/Japan as unequivocally equivalent (well, almost)
3rd September 2013. ESMA published its latest advice to the European Commission with respect to extra-territorial equivalence with EMIR. The advice covers: central clearing, reporting, CCPs, trade repositories and non-financial counterparties, as well as risk mitigation techniques for uncleared trades. The advice is as follows: US – equivalent in all of the above Japan – equivalent for […]