The European Commission has today proposed new rules to ensure thatsystemic market infrastructures in the financial system, known as Central Counterparties (CCPs), can be dealt with effectively when things go wrong. A CCP acts as the intermediary to both sides of a transaction in a financial instrument, including bonds, equities, derivatives andcommodities (such as agricultural products, oil and natural gas).
They are critical in helping to reduce risks and interconnections through the financial system. They help financial firms and end users such as corporates manage their business risks. The scale and importance of CCPs in Europe and globally has nearly doubled since the post-crisis G20 commitment to clear standardised over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives through CCPs. A large proportion of the EUR 500 trillion of derivatives contracts that are outstanding globally are cleared by 17 CCPs across Europe.
There are already high regulatory standards in place for EU CCPs, set out in the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). However, no EU wide rules are in place for the unlikely scenario where CCPs face severe distress or failure and therefore need to be recovered or resolved in an orderly manner. Today’s proposal aims to put into place a recovery and resolution framework to CCPs which are systemically important for the financial system. This will ensure that the critical functions of CCPs are preserved while maintaining financial stability and helping to avoid the costs associated with the restructuring and the resolution of failing CCPs from falling on taxpayers.
