Author: Nick Railton-Edwards
Sanctioned
The rapidly developing situation in Ukraine has re-focused attention on the use of targeted sanctions as a disincentive or response to national aggression. Sanctions have traditionally acted as a blanket ban on any trade with those countries or entities perceived to be the most egregious. Over the last decade, sanctions have become more focused, nuanced […]
(What remains of) Settlement Discipline begins today
1 February 2022 marks the coming into force of the CSDR’s Settlement Discipline Regime (SDR). As originally envisaged the SDR aims to harmonise the authorisation and supervision of CSDs across the EEA, mandating rules for CSD organisation and conduct. and uniform settlement requirements. The seemingly bland intention to promote safe and efficient settlement proved controversial […]
LIBOR’s Shallow Grave
The final day of 2021 marked the passing of LIBOR, simultaneously the world’s most important number and most disgraced benchmark. Perhaps inevitably, the funeral has turned out to be more ambiguous than most, the attendant wake promises to be a drawn-out and slightly messy affair. Following over 4 years of preparation and an estimated $10bn […]
CSDR- mandatory buy in shelved
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 […]
Zombie LIBOR birthday official
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 […]
BRRD II: Another day, another Protocol
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 […]
(C)SDR results are in- keep on keeping on repapering
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-EU unequalled
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, […]
FCA LIBOR powers in force
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 […]
Temporary UK reprieve for EU UCITS
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 […]