As MiFID II Comes into Force, EU Authorities Grant Relief for Exchanges and CCPs
In the first weeks of January, as the main provisions of Europe's MiFID II reforms took effect, multiple regulators put a hold on a requirement that derivatives exchanges and clearinghouses provide open access to their services. Statements were issued by the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority, Bank of England and Germany's BaFin, among others, providing 30-month transitional periods for Eurex Clearing, Euronext, ICE Clear Europe, ICE Futures Europe, London Metal Exchange and its clearinghouse LME Clear, and Nasdaq to come into compliance with the open access requirements. Under Article 54(2) of the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation, an EU CCP or trading venue may apply to its Competent Authority for a “transitional arrangement” in relation to exchange-traded derivatives. This effectively delays the application of these requirements until July 2020.
