European Commission adopts first equivalence decisions for third country CCP regulatory regimes 

On 30 October 2014, the European Commission published a press release announcing that it had adopted its first equivalence decision for the regulatory regimes of central counterparties (CCPs) in four third country jurisdictions.

The equivalence decisions, which relate to Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore mean that CCPs in these jurisdictions will be able to obtain recognition in the EU enabling them to be used by market participants to clear standardised OTC derivatives as required under EMIR while remaining subject solely to the regulation and supervision of their home jurisdiction.

The assessment is made in cooperation with regulators in the third country. When a determination of equivalence is made, it will be given effect through a legally binding implementing act in accordance with Article 25(6) of EMIR.

ESMA review of technical standards on reporting

On 10 November 2014, ESMA published a consultation paper on the revision of the regulatory technical standards (RTS) and implementing technical standards (ITS) in relation to reporting under EMIR.

The ESMA RTS/ ITS deal with the obligation of counterparties and CCPs to report to trade repositories. Since the entry into force of the RTS and ITS, ESMA has worked on ensuring their consistent application. The practical implementation of EMIR reporting showed some shortcomings and highlighted particular instances for improvements so that the EMIR reports better fulfil their objectives.

ESMA’s revised standards propose to clarify the interpretation of the data fields needed for the reporting to trade repositories and the most appropriate way of populating them.

ESMA also proposes to transform clarifications contained in its Q&A document on the implementation of EMIR into technical standards to ensure a consistent and harmonised way of reporting.

ESMA will consider stakeholder’s feedback to the proposed revised standards by 13 February 2015.

Contributed by Niall Crowley & Stuart Connolly