RegTech IntelligenceOn 6 August, ESMA updated its Q&A guidance on the implementation of EMIR (read here). Firms should pay particular attention to these Q&As as they have been known to overturn some common assumptions in the past, and this edition is no exception. In particular, the new answers spell bad news for the future cost of
It is common knowledge that the central clearing and risk mitigation requirements apply to any third country firm trading with an EU entity. However, it may come as a surprise that these requirements can also apply to trades purely between two third country entities where such trades have a ‘direct, substantial and foreseeable effect with
Why EMIR has some banks threatening to stop trading derivatives by 15 September. Under EMIR there are three kinds of counterparties: financial (FC), non-financial (NFC), and non-financial over the clearing threshold (NFC+). By 15 September, FCs and NFCs trading derivatives with one another must agree in writing the joint steps to be taken to mitigate
Before ESMA left for their summer holidays, they made it abundantly clear that EMIR will apply in one form or another outside of the EU. This threatens to disrupt trading flows globally as early as 15 September. By this date, parties trading derivatives must agree in writing the arrangements under which OTC derivative portfolios will
The proposal for Cross-Border Guidance and accompanying exemptive phase-in order has been approved by the CFTC in a 3-1 vote. Regulators have broken a worrying stalemate between the CFTC and the European authorities; worrying because it threatened to split derivatives trading along jurisdictional lines, with US entities unable to clear through European infrastructure and vice
US and EU regulators have announced a ‘path forward‘ on approaching cross-border derivatives regulation that will allow firms operating internationally to comply with only one set of OTC trading requirements, rather than implementing both Dodd-Frank and EMIR. For a long time it seemed that there would be no agreement on the ‘equivalency’ between Dodd-Frank and
New, prescriptive EU clearing obligation rules will require new counterparty classification and monitoring systems. Is this a standard data hub opportunity? With EMIR having entered into force on 16 August 2012, and the release of final draft technical standards by ESMA in September, firms will soon be facing rules on clearing obligations and eligible counterparty
Can a controversial tax reporting initiative actually be good for your bottom line? We explore how. The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has been heavily criticised, and accused of being a “kind of US backward imperialism” with “an atomic bomb used to kill a fly”. At its heart, FATCA exists to track down
With the world’s most systemic banks having made it through the first round of invasive living wills in 2012, regulators now have their sights on the Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI). Central Counterparties (CCPs), payments systems and exchanges will have a lot to do in 2013 and could do well to heed some lessons from their
The G20 says OTC regulation was to be finalised by end 2012. But, with at least 34,000 more pages of regulation expected by 2016 from the US alone, firms need to upgrade their BAU. Following the G20’s meeting in April 2009, the pathforward for regulation on OTC derivatives seemed clear. In the shadow of the
Most of what the MEPs voted into law in July required ESMA to define exactly what they meant in their record keeping demands legislated through EMIR. Unfortunately, a few clauses slipped through the net in the drafting process… One of these was regarding record keeping which, according to experts, means that, as of 16 August,