margins

European Commission Addendum to Draft RTS on Margin Requirements for Uncleared OTC Derivatives under EMIR

On August 2, 2016, the European Commission published an addendum to the draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on margin requirements for uncleared OTC derivatives under Article 11(15) of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).  This follows an endorsement by the European Commission on July 28, 2016 of the draft RTS with amendments.  The ESAs will have 6 weeks to respond to these amendments before resubmitting them to the Commission in the form of a formal opinion.

In the addendum, the Commission states that there are some clarifications to be made to the revised draft RTS on margins in Articles 34 and 36 on application timing and in Annex III where a formula is missing. The intention of the Commission is to have the first wave of the initial margin requirements applied from the date one month after the date the RTS enter into force. This was the intention of paragraph 1 in Article 36. However, the Commission considers that the reading of the interaction of paragraph 1 with the other paragraphs in Article 36 is not clear and that the revisions set out in the addendum are therefore necessary.

Agencies Finalize Rule Exempting Certain Commercial and Financial End Users from Initial and Variation Margin Requirements

On August 1, 2016, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency and the Farm Credit Administration announced a final rule that contains certain exemptions for “certain commercial and financial end users from margin requirements for certain swaps not cleared through a clearinghouse.”  The rule implemented without any changes the interim final rule from November 2015. Press Release. Press Release. Press Release. Press Release.