Clearing package deal boost for EU capital markets
Payments - Photo Pexels
(STRASBOURG) - The European Parliament and EU Council reached political agreement Wednesday on new rules to help make EU clearing services more attractive and robust and preserve financial stability.
The agreement on the review of European market infrastructure rules was welcomed by Belgian Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem. "This will bring more clearing services to Europe and enhance our strategic autonomy," he said. "It will also contribute to stabilising the market and make sure it functions efficiently, which is a prerequisite for a fully-fledged capital markets union."
The new clearing package will enable central counterparties (CCPs) - which provide clearing services - to bring new products to the EU market faster. This will give market participants an incentive to clear and build liquidity at EU CCPs. The new rules also allow for a safer and more resilient clearing system, by improving the EU supervisory framework for CCPs, reinforcing the role of the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA), and drawing lessons from the market events of the past years.
The new framework would also contribute to reducing excessive reliance on systemic CCPs in third countries, by requiring all relevant market participants to hold active accounts at EU CCPs and clear a representative portion of certain systemic derivative contracts within the Single Market.
The Commission proposals were part of the clearing, insolvency and listing package presented in December 2022. They amend the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and make targeted amendments to the prudential frameworks for banks and for investment firms as well as to the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive and the Money Market Funds (MMF) Regulation.
Council negotiating mandate on EMIR Regulation