19 March 2014

ESMA publishes list of authorised CCPs and OTC derivatives

In accordance with EMIR, ESMA was notified of NASDAQ OMX’s authorisation including the classes of OTC derivatives cleared by them. ESMA will propose draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the clearing obligation if the classes of OTC derivatives notified to ESMA meet the criteria defined in EMIR. The clearing obligation procedure defined in Article 5(2) of EMIR is triggered every time a new CCP clearing OTC derivatives is authorised. For the clearing obligation, ESMA will only assess the suitability of those classes notified to ESMA.

This means that if CCPs are authorised on different dates, several clearing obligation procedures may run in parallel. For each of these procedures, ESMA has up to six months from the time of the notifications to draft the respective RTS, consult and submit them for endorsement to the European Commission. After the Commission’s endorsement, the RTS are subject to a non-objection period by both the European Council and Parliament, after which the clearing obligation will be phased-in per type of counterparties.

Both registries can be found on the registries and databases page under the sub-heading post-trading.

In summary, writes DRS, the authorisation of Nasdaq OMX kick starts the EMIR ‘frontloading’ requirement for those classes of OTC derivatives for which Nasdaq OMX has been authorised.  In other words, if any class of OTC derivatives which Nasdaq OMX is authorised to clear subsequently becomes subject to a mandatory clearing requirement, all trades entered into after the declaration of mandatory clearing as well as all trades entered into on or after the date of authorisation (i.e. 18 March 2014) will be required to be cleared.  The next significant date in this process is 18 September 2014 – the deadline for ESMA to submit a regulatory technical standard for approval by the EU Commission proposing the sub-set of trades for which Nasdaq OMX has been authorised which should be subject to mandatory clearing. [See also: EMIR-Central Clearing Agreement: agree in haste, repent at leisure.]

"This approval highlights our leading position in the clearing space", says Hans-Ole Jochumsen, Executive Vice President, Transaction Services Nordic, NASDAQ OMX. "Our clearing house was the first with true multi-asset derivatives clearing in Europe. Now, as the first to be EMIR authorised, we can focus on further developing our offering, including an expansion within interest rate swaps and German power derivatives, as well as introducing clearing of foreign exchange products."

Full press release

ESMA-Registries and Databases

NASDAQ press release

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