On 11 March 2016, as part of its consultations on Level 2 measures under the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR), the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) published a Discussion Paper incorporating draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) and Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on transaction reporting under the SFTR. At 187 pages and posing 145 questions, […]

Following the CFTC-EU Common Approach and the EC’s recognition of US equivalency; the CFTC yesterday unanimously approved a positive “comparability determination”, allowing DCO/CCPs subject to EMIR to benefit from substituted compliance with its clearing regulations. EU-authorised, and hence EMIR-compliant, CCPs will now be effectively absolved from CFTC requirements for financial resources, risk management, settlement procedures […]

The PRA yesterday issued a consultation paper (CP)proposing to make permanent its time-limited 25 November 2015 waiver of Article 55 BRRD compliance, in respect of phase 2 liabilities. The waiver took effect via modification by consent, the consent being that of the PRA. If granted, the modification is valid until the earlier of 30 June 2016, […]

The only recently-acknowledged elephant of EU-US CCP lack of equivalence is one step closer to leaving the room. The European Commission has today granted the CFTC status as an equivalent regulatory regime for CCPs. The determination will be effected by a legally-binding implementing act in accordance with Article 25(6) EMIR. The decision follows the 10 […]

The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight yesterday issued no-action letter 16-25, extending no-action relief for SEF confirmation and recordkeeping requirements under CFTC Regulations 37.6(b), 37.1000, 37.1001, 45.2 and 45.3(a). Connoisseurs of CFTC no-action will immediately recognise the notorious regulations that require SEFs to obtain pre-trade physical copies of the master agreements to which their trade […]

As part of a confidential settlement reached with NatWest and RBS, Crestsign vacated the appeal set to be heard in April 2016. Accordingly, the unsuccessful rendezvous with the Court of Appeal will leave open for now the difficult questions at the heart of this swap mis-selling case and also found in a number of similar […]

The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) comprising the EBA, ESMA, and EIOPA yesterday released the final draft RTS on margin for non-cleared derivatives. The long-awaited RTS details margin requirements for uncleared derivatives under Article 11 EMIR.  The final draft implementation timeline is unchanged, the requirements will enter into force on 1 September 2016, subject to the […]

On 25 February 2016, the CFTC requested public comments on the petition of LCH.Clearnet Limited (“LCH”) to introduce portfolio margining across certain exchange-traded interest rate futures and OTC interest rate swaps. Economically-correlated interest rate futures would be pooled with OTC rate swaps for margining purposes, resulting in reduced collateral requirements for clearing members, and ultimately, […]

The EC yesterday adopted a Delegated Regulation implementing mandatory clearing for certain CDS. Under the Regulation, the obligation will apply to the four clearing categories as follows: Category 1- 9 months after the entry into force of the RTS Category 2- 15 months after the entry into force of the RTS Category 3- 21 months […]