On 30 September 2022, there was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ): Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/1684 of 28.9.22 on the equivalence of the regulatory framework for central counterparties in Taiwan to Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards Futures Clearing Houses under the … Continue Reading
On 30 September 2022, there was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/1671 of 9.6.22 extending the transitional period referred to in Article 89(1), first subparagraph, of the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation. The Delegated Regulation enters into force on the day following that of its publication in … Continue Reading
On 29 September 2022, the FCA announced that following its earlier consultation in June it will be requiring the continued publication of the 1- and 6-month synthetic sterling LIBOR settings for a further three months after the end of 2022, until 31 March 2023. The FCA adds that it has no intention to use its … Continue Reading
On 28 September 2022, the FCA updated their webpage on the new Benchmarks Register. The webpage now includes the following text: “Following Brexit, we have developed the new Benchmarks Register, which replaces the ESMA Register for UK supervised users, and UK and third country-based benchmark administrators that want their benchmarks to be used in the … Continue Reading
On 28 September 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a feedback report on the review of the clearing thresholds under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The feedback report has been produced in response to Regulation (EU) 2019/834 (EMIR Refit) which introduced a mandate in EMIR for ESMA to periodically review the … Continue Reading
On 26 September 2022, the Working Group on Euro Risk-Free Rates published a recommendation detailing a recommendation relating to the availability of derivative products referencing Euro short-term rates (€STR), particularly those that will be utilised for the purpose of calculating and publishing a forward-looking term €STR in order to support the adoption of EURIBOR fallback. … Continue Reading
On 22 September 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) submitted its response to the European Commission regarding the current level of margins and of excessive volatility in energy derivatives markets. The letter comes in response to the formal request from the Commission that ESMA received on 13 September 2022. ESMA’s letter covers: Circuit … Continue Reading
On 23 September 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated their Q&As on MiFID II and MiFIR market structure topics. The question and answer for question 35 under Direct Electronic Access and algorithmic trading has been updated: Can trading venues set specific trading hours which are applicable only to a sub-set of financial … Continue Reading
On 22 September 2022, the FCA published Consultation Paper 22/18 ‘Guidance on the trading venue perimeter’ (CP22/18). CP22/18 is part of the Wholesale Markets Review and addresses the recommendation that the FCA consult on guidance that provides for greater clarity on the types of firms which need to be authorised as a trading venue. In … Continue Reading
On 20 September 2022, the Bank of England (BoE) published its Consultation Paper on the 2022/23 fees regime for financial market infrastructure (FMI) supervision. The Consultation Paper is relevant to all FMIs that currently pay FMI supervisory fees to the BoE or are expecting to do so within the 2022/23 fee year, except for non-UK … Continue Reading
On 15 September 2022, the EBA published a letter that the European Commission had sent to both it and the European Securities and Markets Authority regarding a response to the current level of margins and of excessive volatility in energy derivatives markets. The letter outlines that, with the sharp rise in gas and electricity prices … Continue Reading
On 14 September 2022, President Von der Leyen announced in her State of the Union Address, the first package of emergency energy measures aimed at providing an EU-wide response to the difficulties that high energy prices are causing for consumers, as well as for energy firms participating in wholesale energy markets. The President also mentioned … Continue Reading
On 8 September 2022, the FCA published a Dear CEO letter concerning its supervision strategy for benchmark administrators. The Dear CEO letter outlines the FCA’s supervisory priorities for benchmark administrators being: Disclosure. The FCA has concerns that some benchmark administrators have not accurately described the economic reality that their benchmarks measure. It has also observed … Continue Reading
On 8 September 2022, the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a report ‘Client clearing: access and portability’. The report considers the benefits and challenges of new access models to central counterparty (CCP) clearing and client-position portability. The report: Describes “direct” and “sponsored” access models … Continue Reading
On 5 September 2022, the FCA published a Dear CEO letter being its first portfolio letter to trade repositories and securitisation repositories (which the FCA refers to collectively as ‘Repositories’). The Dear CEO letter outlines the FCA’s view of the key risks of harm in the Repositories portfolio and communicates what the regulator expects Repositories … Continue Reading
On 5 September 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its Questions and Answers on MiFID II and MIFIR transparency topics. The ESMA has added a new question in chapter 9 (third country issues) which asks whether transactions executed between a branch and its head office are subject to transparency requirements. The response … Continue Reading
Every month we provide the Global Blockchain Business Council’s Post-Trade Distributed Ledger group with a global regulatory FinTech updater, the latest version of which can be found here Post Trade Distributed Ledger (PTDL) Group is composed of over 40 prominent market infrastructure stakeholders whose shared vision of the use of distributed ledger technology has brought … Continue Reading
Introduction On 30 August 2022, the ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA) published a consultation on its intention to cease the publication of all ICE swap rate settings based on USD LIBOR. The consultation Following the FCA’s announcement on March 5, 2021, regarding the future cessation and loss of representativeness of USD LIBOR, IBA does not … Continue Reading
On 24 August 2022, the Bank of England (BoE) published a Policy Statement setting out its final policy in relation to adding overnight index swaps (OIS) that reference the Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) to the scope of contracts subject to the derivatives clearing obligation (DCO) and removing contracts referencing USD Libor. The Policy Statement … Continue Reading
Introduction On 19 August 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its response to the European Commission’s consultation on the regime applicable to the use of benchmarks administered in a third country. Earlier consultation The consultation covered the topic of the continued use by supervised entities of third country benchmarks and the potential … Continue Reading
On 18 August 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated their webpage on Consultation Paper 22/5 ‘Proposed changes to allow companies to use a more up to date electronic format for their annual financial reports’. The webpage has added new text under the section ‘Respond to this consultation’ stating that, the consultation has now closed … Continue Reading
On 17 August 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated their webpage on Discussion Paper 22/2: Primary Markets Effectiveness Review: Feedback to the discussion of the purpose of the listing regime and further discussion. The webpage has updated the section on ‘Next steps’ noting that the period for commenting on the Discussion Paper has closed … Continue Reading
The Norton Rose Fulbright annual Markets Infrastructure seminar is back! Please join us from 15:45 – 19:00 on Thursday, 8 September 2022 for an update and discussion on key topics in the world of trade and post-trade. The seminar will be of interest to legal, compliance and risk professionals working with the buy and sell … Continue Reading
On 16 August 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a statement encouraging issuers and bond holders of outstanding LIBOR-linked bonds to consider taking necessary action to transition outstanding LIBOR-linked bonds to fair alternative rates. The FCA is encouraging: Issuers of remaining LIBOR-linked bonds (or those that may have a future LIBOR-linked dependency) issued under … Continue Reading
