RegTech Intelligence 
At a recent conference, the International Derivatives Expo in London, David Bailey of the FCA said that his organisation ‘will not look kindly on firms which are not prepared [for EMIR].’
‘The FCA has been doing numerous road-shows and is speaking to a number of trade associations about buy-side regulatory obligations. We have been answering questions on the rules and we have a very detailed website, as has the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).’ He said. ‘We accept that some of the details on these rules are not there yet but most of the important aspects of the rules are clear.’
Amongst their wider clearing, reporting and risk-management requirements, firms are compelled to confirm their counterparty status to ESMA, but ESMA is not required to make this master list public. As a result, the industry has had to come up with its own set of solutions. One solution has been trade association protocols, but, according to a Thomson Reuters article, the general impression is that the buy-side’s take-up of these has been limited. This leaves sell-side institutions with the choice of collecting thousands of counterparties’ data themselves or pursuing an alternative solution.
The full article can be read here.