On Friday 17 November, the European Commission adopted regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying the derivatives that must be bought or sold only on regulated stock markets, in line with the obligation set out in the MiFIR 'markets in financial instruments' regulation, which aims to increase the transparency of the financial markets.
“With these rules, EU financial market players will now have certainty on what derivatives will have to be traded on venues where greater safety, stability and transparency are assured”, the European Commissioner for Financial Services, Valdis Dombrovskis, said in a press release.
Under these new rules, certain fixed or floating interest rate swaps (IRS) in euro (EUR), pounds sterling (GBP) or US dollars (USD) and two Index Credit Default Swaps (ICDS) will have to be bought and sold on platforms regulated in the EU or those outside the EU that have been granted equivalency decisions by the Commission. These obligations will take effect alongside the entry into force of the MiFID II directive, on 3 January 2018.
The Commission has also announced that it is soon to adopt its equivalency decision recognising certain trading platforms regulated in the United States, to allow European counterparties to continue to carry out certain transactions in derivatives (see EUROPE 11883), in line with the transatlantic agreement concluded last month with the American Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The European Parliament and the Council have three months to issue any objections they may have to these RTS. They can be consulted at: http://bit.ly/2zNjIJ5. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)