The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has opened today a public consultation on draft requirements regarding indirect clearing. Indirect clearing is in practice understood as when clients of a clearing member sign up clients of their own.
ESMA’s draft rules on indirect clearing both refer to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) as they cover arrangements for OTC derivatives and exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) respectively. The aim of this consultation is to address issues raised by stakeholders in prior consultations and ensure consistency in the application of MiFIR and EMIR.
ESMA’s draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on indirect clearing cover:
• rules for ETDs that are developed under MiFIR; and
• rules for OTC derivatives to amend existing RTS under EMIR.
ESMA is seeking stakeholder’s comments to its draft RTS by 17 December 2015. The final RTS are expected to be delivered early next year.