Principals and senior representatives of authorities responsible for the regulation of the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets in Australia, Brazil, the European Union, Hong Kong, Japan, Ontario, Québec, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States met on 20 September 2013 at the headquarters of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in Paris.  The Principals and representatives include:  ·         Steven Maijoor, Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA); ·         Greg Medcraft, Chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission; ·         Leonardo Pereira, Chairman of the Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (Brazil); ·         Patrick Pearson, Acting Director at the European Commission; ·         Ashley Alder, Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission; ·         Masamichi Kono, Vice-Commissioner of the Japan Financial Services Agency; ·         Howard Wetston, Chair of the Ontario Securities Commission; ·         Anne Héritier Lachat, Chair of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority; ·         Gary Gensler, Chairman of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission; ·         Mary Jo White, Chair of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission; ·         Chuan Teck Lee, Assistant Managing Director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore; ·         Louis Morisset, President and CEO, l’Autorité des marchés financiers du Québec.  The Principals discussed generally: the application of clearing requirements to foreign branches and affiliates; risk mitigation techniques for non-centrally cleared derivatives transactions, such as timely confirmation, portfolio reconciliation, portfolio compression, valuation and dispute resolution; the need to co-operate in the implementation of internationally agreed standards on margin for non-centrally cleared derivatives transactions; co-operation on equivalence and substituted compliance assessments among the relevant authorities; and co-operation between authorities in the supervision of registered foreign entities;  The Principals agreed to meet again in February to continue the discussion of the above points.

With the overarching objective of reducing systemic risk, EMIR introduces the obligation to clear certain classes of OTC derivatives in central clearing houses (CCPs) that have been authorised (European CCPs) or recognised (third-country CCPs) under its framework.ESMA defined the IRS classes to be subject to central clearing following an analysis of all IRS classes which are currently offered for clearing by European CCPs. ESMA’s draft RTS propose to subject the following four classes: Basis swaps, fixed-to-float interest rate swaps, forward rate agreements and overnight index swaps on a range of currencies and maturities. The clearing obligation will take effect following a phased implementation depending on the types of counterparties.Responding to this paperThe European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) invites responses to the specific questions listed in the consultation paper on the clearing obligation no.1. Please use this “form to reply”Details on EMIR and the clearing obligation can be found at the following link: http://www.esma.europa.eu/page/OTC-derivatives-and-clearing-obligation

With the overarching objective of reducing systemic risk, EMIR introduces the obligation to clear certain classes of OTC derivatives in central clearing houses (CCPs) that have been authorised (European CCPs) or recognised (third-country CCPs) under its framework.Following a first consultation paper on the IRS classes to be subject to central clearing, in this second paper ESMA defined the CDS classes to be subject to the clearing obligation based on the analysis of all CDS classes which are currently offered for clearing by European CCPs. ESMA’s draft RTS propose to subject the following class: untranched European index CDS, for two indices. The clearing obligation will take effect following a phased implementation depending on the types of counterparties.Responding to this paperThe European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) invites responses to the specific questions listed in the consultation paper on the clearing obligation no.1. Please use this “form to reply”Details on EMIR and the clearing obligation can be found at the following link: http://www.esma.europa.eu/page/OTC-derivatives-and-clearing-obligation