To the surprise of few, but the relief of many, the EU Parliament and Council have signalled a postponement of mandatory buy in (MBI) rules under the CSDR. Tabled under Any Other Business at a trilogue meeting agreeing the setup of a Distributed Ledger Technology regulatory sandbox, the co-legislators issued a “non-paper” referencing the upcoming […]

Ahead of LIBOR’s end of year demise, market participants have been waiting for clarification from the FCA on what “tough legacy” actually constitutes, i.e. those contracts which may continue to reference synthetic LIBOR. Following yesterday’s publication of a series of documents, it turns out that “tough” might be better expressed as “slightly irksome”.  Para 4.28 […]

Yesterday, ISDA launched a new module to the ISDA Resolution Stay Jurisdictional Modular Protocol (JMP)- the BRRD II Omnibus Module (“the Module”). Not to be confused with either Omnibus Directives, the new module acts to amend contracts to incorporate BRRD II Article 71a revisions. These revisions require third-country counterparty consent to statutory stays on early […]

On 2 July 2021, the European Commission (EC) released the results of its February 2021 CSDR consultation. The results will guide the areas of focus for the upcoming Q4 2021 CSDR legislative review. The consultation garnered a relatively high response rate of 91 replies, split across both firms and trade associations, identifying the following as […]

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Mansion House speech yesterday delivered the final coup de grace headshot to any lingering hopes for EU-UK equivalence. “The UK has an abiding interest in a prosperous and productive Europe. We have deep shared values and a long history of cooperation. And we will strengthen those ties. At the same time, […]

Today marks the entry into force of Section 2 of the UK Financial Services Act 2021 (FSA). The second of seven “Commencement” phases, the second is primarily notable for the application of the new FCA LIBOR powers, although it does contain a number of other provisions. A brief summary follows: Benchmarks (sections 8 to 21 […]

The PRA and FCA yesterday published a joint policy statement on margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives, making amendments to Binding Technical Standard BTS 2016/2251. The amendments temporarily extend the period during which EEA UCITS are eligible collateral under the UK margin regime, until end-December 2022. “2.9 The PRA has given due regard to the […]

On 24 June 2021, the EC issued a joint statement with the EBA, ECB and ESMA, warning all market participants to cease their use of any LIBOR settings. The statement reminds readers that the amended BMR has been in force since 13 February 2021, most particularly Art. 23b empowering the EC to designate a replacement rate for […]

The EC has today extended the third-country CCP transitional regime by one year until 28 June 2022. The transitional regime allows non-EU CCPs to benefit from the significantly lower capital charges applicable to “Qualifying” CCPs (essentially an EU-recognised CCP, 3rd country or EU), as long as they have applied for recognition. The following countries are […]