EU CCPs, systemic market infrastructures in the financial system, are already well regulated and subject to stringent supervision, thanks to a raft of measures adopted in the wake of the financial crisis. The agreement upgrades the supervision of CCPs, established in EU and non-EU countries, offering or planning to offer services to EU clearing members and their clients, as well as to EU trading venues. The agreed rules build on the proposal to revise the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) presented by the European Commission in 2017 as part of the Capital Markets Union project.
These new arrangements are important to protect financial stability due to the growing role of CCPs as intermediaries in financial transactions. Moreover, with the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU, a significant volume of financial instruments denominated in the currencies of Member States will be cleared by CCPs in non-EU countries.
The reform of EMIR introduces a more pan-European approach to the supervision of EU CCPs. It establishes, in particular, a Supervisory Committee within the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) with independent members, national supervisors and central banks. For the supervision of third-country CCPs operating in the EU, based on the system of equivalence, it introduces a proportionate approach: some CCPs established outside the EU may be of such systemic importance that they require additional conditions to mitigate the potential risks.
In such instances, ESMA obtains additional supervisory tools. If this is not sufficient, the Commission can, upon request by ESMA, decide that a CCP will only be able to provide some or all of its services in the Union if it established in the EU. The Supervisory Committee also fosters convergence in the supervision of EU CCPs through more involvement of ESMA in certain supervisory decisions.
The Commission also welcomes the political agreement reached today by the European Parliament and EU Member States to amend the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank. The amendments equip the European System of Central Banks with the powers necessary to perform the tasks set in the amended EMIR Regulation.
Full press release
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