Investment & Pensions Europe: 'I understand', Commissioner Hill tells pension funds on EMIR concerns

23 June 2016

The European Commission will feed pension funds’ calls for a permanent exemption from central clearing obligations into a review of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation that is coming to a close, commissioner Jonathan Hill said.

“I know pension funds have called for a permanent exemption from some of EMIR’s rules on central clearing,” he said. “I understand your concern.”

He made the comments as part of a summary of feedback the Commission received to a consultation on how financial services legislation was working, and how the Commission was responding to this.

“Respondents to our Call for Evidence have said that, overall, the measures put in place following the crisis are working well, but that, in places, our legislation is not proportionate enough, that it could be weighing down the amount of financing available to the wider economy and that the compliance burden is too heavy,” he said.

The feedback also indicated the need for the Commission to take care with further reforms to avoid reducing market liquidity, added Hill.

EMIR was one of the pieces of EU financial legislation Janwillem Bouma, chair of PensionsEurope, said should be changed, arguing that its interaction with bank capital rules were having a negative impact on pension funds.

“At present, the cumulative impact of bank capital requirements and EMIR is overly burdensome for pension funds,” said Bouma.

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