The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) has published two draft reports on the Commission’s proposals to postpone the application date of MiFID II, MiFIR, MAR and the CSDR. Both drafts state that the Parliament intends to adopt the proposals at first reading. The reports are accompanied by an explanatory statement by […]

ESMA has updated its EMIR Q&A Level 3 text on OTC derivatives, CCPs and trade repositories. The update clarifies how the frontloading and clearing obligations apply to swaps created via the exercise of a swaption. Coming a scant three business days before the start of frontloading, the update continues the EMIR practice of just in […]

The EU and the US have today released a joint statement outlining a common approach to mutual recognition of each other’s CCPs. ESMA will propose an equivalence decision in respect of US CCPs, the CFTC will propose a “determination of comparability” in respect of EU CCPs- each decision will conclude at the same time that […]

To the surprise of no-one, the European Commission has today proposed a one year extension to the application date of MiFID 2. The new deadline is 3 January 2018. Commissioner Jonathan Hill said, “Given the complexity of the technical challenges highlighted by ESMA, it makes sense to extend the deadline for MiFID II. We will […]

On 29 January, the BoE announced a public consultation defining new capital requirements for all ringfenced retail lenders. The consultation proposes the imposition of a “systemic risk buffer” (SRB) on banks and building societies, ensuring that critical financial services are maintained even in highly-stressed periods. The buffer is scaled in according to total risk-weighted assets, […]

Good news for all General Counsels – or at least a stay of execution.  On 27 January 2016, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a statement clarifying its intentions with respect to individuals having overall responsibility for a legal function under the Senior Managers Regime (SMR). Since the publication of its final rules in July […]

ESMA`s latest consultation on indirect clearing arrangements under EMIR and MiFIR closed on 17 December 2015. The absence of consensus on the majority of issues is evidenced by the large number of disparate responses received from participants up and down the clearing chain. In particular, a stark criticism is that the twin RTS on indirect […]

To the surprise of no-one but the terminally optimistic, ESMA chair Steven Maijoor has indicated that the requested one year delay to MiFID 2 may not be sufficient. In conversation with Reuters at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, Mr Maijoor underlined that the MiFID 2 ball is in the politician’s court: “I am […]

In yet another development driven by the remorseless exigencies of Regulatory Capital requirements, banks are looking to move currently clearing-exempted clients to cash-only CSAs. In order to bridge the pricing-gap between cash and non-cash collateralised swaps, banks are offering insurers and pension funds the option to post securities with an automatic switch to cash at […]