Go ahead, plug in EU markets regulator


The European Securities and Markets Authority has upgraded its reporting requirements for derivative market participants. The new technical standards cover procedures for accessing details of derivatives, applications for registration as a trade repository, reconciliation of data between trade repositories, data to be reported to trade repositories and formats and frequency for reporting. These standards flow from guidance provided by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures to improve transparency in the global financial market infrastructure. The EU markets regulator has also been pursuing equivalence in reporting requirements with its counterparts in other countries and has been signing MoUs that include auditing third-country clearing corporations.

Over the course of the year, the EU has recognised the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, the National Securities Clearing Corporation and the Options Clearing Corporation in the US, the Shanghai Clearing House and Dubai Clear based on the equivalence of regulatory requirements. Similar arrangements are being worked out for clearing corporations in Chile, Indonesia, Israel and Malaysia. Countries where trade repositories are in the process of being derecognised include Argentina, Colombia, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey. But this is open to review. India could fall into this category if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Sebi and the International Financial Services Centres Authority are not comfortable with foreign oversight of the clearing corporations they regulate.

To the extent that the EU technical standards are an improvement in counterparty risk mitigation, it would be in the interest of Indian financial regulation to acquire equivalence with these reporting requirements. India may have some leverage in European banks losing custodian business for trades by foreign portfolio investors. But that would run counter to efforts to deepen linkages with the global capital market.



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