Jan 26, 2012
Europe aims for EMIR agreement in five days
European authorities have
confirmed they will aim to reach a final agreement on the European market
infrastructure regulation (EMIR) by the end of this month.
The European Parliament, European
Commission (EC) and Council of the European Union will meet on 31 January with
the intention of finishing discussions on the new derivatives legislation,
after their previous 23 January trialogue was postponed.
The new date follows comments
from European internal market and service commissioner Michel Barnier on
Tuesday, who stated that EMIR negotiations were on the “home straight”.
During trialogue discussions,
differences between the texts drafted by European Parliament and Council of the
European Union are reconciled, with input from the EC.
EMIR will seek to standardise
OTC derivatives where possible so that they can be traded on exchange,
centrally cleared and reported to data repositories.
During previous negotiations,
European authorities failed to reach an agreement on the role that securities
watchdog the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) would play in
authorising and supervising clearing houses under the new rules.
After the trialogue
discussions are complete, securities watchdog the European Securities and Markets
Authority (ESMA) will begin writing the accompanying technical standards for
EMIR, which are currently due for completion by 30 June.
The Group of 20, which
demanded OTC derivatives reform following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in
2008, has stated that it wants the rules to be in place by Q4 2012.
Anish Puaar
+44 (0)20 7397 3817
anish.puaar@thetrade.ltd.uk