On 1 March 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced it is seeking feedback alongside the Bank of England (BoE) on draft guidance for reporting under the revised UK EMIR Article 9 reporting requirements.
On 24 February 2023, the FCA and BoE jointly published Policy Statement 23/2 (PS23/2) confirming changes to the derivative reporting framework under UK EMIR. The majority of the new requirements are applicable from 30 September 2024, with a transition period for some aspects. As part of the original consultation process, the FCA received requests for supporting guidance on how the updated UK derivatives reporting framework will be implemented. In response, it is providing guidance in the form of questions and answers (Q&As). Before the FCA finalises these Q&As, it is consulting on them jointly with the BoE to get feedback from industry.
The Q&As will primarily be relevant for:
- Counterparties in scope of the reporting requirements under UK EMIR.
- Trade repositories (TRs) registered, or recognised, under UK EMIR.
- Third party services providers who offer reporting services to counterparties subject to reporting under UK EMIR.
- Trade associations, law firms and consultancy firms who work with counterparties subject to reporting under UK EMIR.
Draft Q&As
The Q&As the FCA is consulting on have already been informed by discussions with trade associations, reporting counterparties, TRs and central counterparties (CCPs) via the UK EMIR Reporting Industry Engagement Group.
The Q&As will be divided up into the following topics. In this first consultation, the FCA is covering topics 1 to 5:
- Transitional Arrangements.
- Reconciliations.
- Errors and Omissions.
- Derivative Identifiers.
- Action and Events.
- Venues.
- Exchange Traded Derivatives.
- Margin and Collateral.
- Clearing.
- Post Trade Risk Reduction.
- Position Level Reporting.
- Asset Class and Product Specific.
UK EMIR Validation Rules
In certain circumstances, the draft Q&As also require a corresponding change to the UK EMIR Validation Rules (applicable from 30 September 2024) to address industry feedback and correct identified errors. As a result, the FCA is also consulting on those changes, and it indicates within the relevant Q&A where such a change is proposed.
Next steps
The FCA welcomes feedback on topics 1 to 5 of the draft Q&As and the proposed changes to the UK EMIR Validation Rules from all interested parties. The deadline for comments is 28 March 2024. The FCA will then consider the feedback before publishing the first set of finalised Q&As on its website shortly afterwards.
The FCA will be consulting on topics 6 to 12 later in spring 2024.