Luxembourg-based trade repository REGIS-TR has been fined €186,000 by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, for eight breaches of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
The breaches relate to failures in ensuring the integrity of data and providing direct and immediate access to regulators, and were committed between 2017 and 2020. Five out of eight breaches were found to have resulted from negligence on the part of REGIS-TR.
ESMA criticised REGIS-TR for generating incorrect reports, failing to provide reports within the specified time limits and omitting data in the reports due to wrong rejections. The regulator also found that REGIS-TR failed to ensure the integrity of reported data, and incorrectly rejected data that had in fact been correctly reported by the relevant parties.
In addition, the repository committed three further breaches resulting in the provision of wrong and unreliable reports to regulators, by failing to verify the correctness and completeness of the data received.
“In calculating the fine for negligent infringements, ESMA considered both aggravating and mitigating factors under EMIR,” said ESMA.
The announcement comes just two days after the trade repository’s UK branch, REGIS-TR UK, was awarded a full EMIR reporting license by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the first trade repository to receive one post-Brexit.
“We have had a successful start to UK EMIR reporting since it began in January last year, and we are delighted to be the first TR to receive our full license from the FCA,” said REGIS-TR UK CEO John Kernan at the time.