The UK Government has amended the Building Societies Act to allow the societies and their subsidiaries to become clearing members. EMIR’s Category 4 clearing obligation will apply from 21 December 2018, comprising all 44 of the UK’s building societies, mandating the central clearing of prescribed derivatives. The amendment is made to section 9A (1)(c) of […]

The will they-won’t they soap opera of European FFX margin regulation is likely drawing to a close. As promised in their 24 November announcement, the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESMA, EBA and EIOPA) published a draft amendment to the EMIR Margin RTS. The amendment does clarify matters by excising the announcement’s “most likely”, confirming that […]

ESMA updated its EMIR Q&A and MiFID 2 Q&A on Post-Trading Issues yesterday 14 December 2017. The updated Q&As include clarification in relation to: Indirect clearing – Q&A amended for both EMIR and MiFID 2 Post-Trading Issues; Swap reporting to trade repositories; Reporting of collateral; and Reporting of contracts with no maturity The guidance in […]

The FCA have today issued their response to the ESAs 24 November FFX announcement. It is brief and is worth reading in full as a masterclass in ironic prevarication and understatement. Highlights below (emboldening is ours): “The amendments to the RTS should become increasingly clear over time and we would expect firms to make their […]

With a scant 28 days until the MiFID 2 starting gun sounds, Regulatory Change managers could be forgiven for looking forward to a well-deserved rest. In reality, 3 January 2018 will actually represent the beginning of a long process of clarification, refinement and final implementation. In this slightly dispiriting context, it is not surprising that […]

A brief spotlight through the fog swirling around the upcoming obligation to exchange margin on forward foreign exchange. There was a widespread, if only whispered, expectation that a 7/8 November ESMA Board of Supervisors meeting would result in an official announcement of forbearance. While the EU has no equivalent mechanism to the CFTC’s enthusiastic use […]

On 13 October 2017, the CTC and the EU announced substituted compliance determinations in respect of margin requirements for OTC derivatives. The determinations accept that the CFTC’s Final Margin Rule and EMIR’s risk mitigation and margin requirements are sufficiently comparable on a substantive outcomes basis. For those interested in reading the full text, we recommend […]

On 19 June 2017, ESMA published a consultation paper on the trading obligation for derivatives, as detailed in Articles 28 and 32 of MiFIR.[1]  The closing date for responses is 31 July 2017. By way of reminder, derivatives that are subject to the trading obligation under MiFIR may only be traded on: A Regulated Market; […]

Introduction With VM CSA repapering in full swing over at DRS, this article took a while longer to write than first anticipated.  It has now been two weeks since ISDA published another two supplemental rules exhibits further amending the ISDA 2016 Variation Margin Protocol (the “Protocol”) on 27 January 2017: Supplemental Rules Exhibit for Non-Netting […]