ECB opinion on the proposed Regulation amending EMIR

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published an opinion concerning the European Commission’s proposed Regulation amending the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). We blogged the Commission’s legislative proposal on 5 May 2017 (see here).

The ECB generally supports the Commission’s initiative to introduce a number of targeted modifications to EMIR with a view to simplifying the applicable rules and eliminating disproportionate burdens. The ECB also makes specific observations on the following topics:

• exemption of central bank transactions;
• reporting obligation;
• amendments to ensure the quality of data;
• credit institutions’ compliance with risk-management procedures, intragroup exemptions and capital requirements;
• central counterparty transparency;
• classification of securitisation special purpose entities as financial counterparties;
• changes to methodology for calculating counterparties’ positions in over-the-counter derivative contracts; and
• the ECB’s advisory role regarding draft delegated and implementing acts.

View Opinion of the ECB of 11 October 2017 on a proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No. 648/2012 as regards the clearing obligation, the suspension of the clearing obligation, the reporting requirements, the risk-mitigation techniques for OTC derivatives contracts not cleared by a central counterparty, the registration and supervision of trade repositories and the requirements for trade repositories, 11 October 2017