FIA EPTA appreciates the opportunity to respond to the European Commissions’ (Commission) targeted review of the EU central clearing framework.
FIA EPTA members believe that the Commission should firstly focus on opportunities to incentivise clearing of new transactions on EU CCPs as moving legacy positions to another CCP will create issues around higher cost and increased risk of closing and re-opening the cleared position on the market. FIA EPTA members believe that harmonisation of the different EU legal frameworks for cross-border activity would be helpful as EU CCPs require complex legal structures to ensure the enforceability of their rules in a default situation. FIA EPTA members would suggest not making mandatory changes, for example, to extend the scope of the clearing obligation in the EU to new entities or new products unless there is a market-driven demand for such an extension or compelling clearing to take place via an EU CCP, as that would result in the EU diverging from global regulatory standards and departing from the principles of mutual recognition and harmonisation.
