On Friday 23 June, the European Central Bank suggested that its statute be modified to confer upon it legal competence in the field of clearing financial instruments.
Statute change would give the ECB “clear legal competence” in the central clearing of financial instruments, which would allow the Eurosystem to exercise the powers provided for central banks issuing a currency under the review of the EMIR regulation proposed by the European Commission, the Frankfurt-based institute states in a press release.
The legislative proposal revising the EMIR regulation, which governs trading in derivative products, proposes an increased role for the central banks in accrediting and supervising central counterparties (CCP) established in third countries, an extremely important provision in the framework of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (see EUROPE 11807).
The revised article in the ECB statute would read as follows: “the ECB and national central banks may provide facilities, and the ECB may make regulations, to ensure efficient and sound clearing and payment systems, and clearing systems for financial instruments, within the Union and with other countries”.
As the ECB's recommendation was adopted unanimously by the Governing Council, the proposed text only needs to be adopted by a qualified majority of the Council of the EU on the basis of a Commission opinion. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)