The European Association of CCP Clearing Houses (EACH) welcomes the agreement reached between the European Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on a ‘Common approach for transatlantic CCPs’1.
We commend the efforts of the European Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and other public authorities to resolve the equivalence debate in a way that promotes the safety and efficiency of global financial markets and CCPs in particular. We believe that this pragmatic solution should ensure a level playing field between the EU and the US and avoid the risk of regulatory arbitrage, which is particularly sensitive in the context of the risk management activities performed by CCPs. We hope that a consistent approach avoiding the risk of regulatory arbitrage is taken in the future regarding the upcoming legislative proposals on Recovery and Resolution of CCPs.
We also note the importance of this agreement with regards to the implementation of the clearing obligation in the European Union, which is scheduled to commence from 21st June 2016.
EACH looks forward to the finalisation of the details of the EU-US agreement.
