Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of July 4th 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories ("EMIR") provides for cooperation arrangements to be established between the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") and non-EU authorities whose legal and supervisory framework for CCPs have been deemed equivalent to EMIR by the European Commission under the form of Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU").
The European Commission started its equivalence assessment in relation to such non-EU CCPs last October 30th 2014, where it has adopted four "equivalence" decisions (implementing acts) for the regulatory regimes for central counterparties ("CCPs") in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
Further to the above equivalence assessments ESMA entered into a first MoU, established under Article 76 of EMIR, with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission ("ASIC") last November 2014.
On March 5th 2015 ESMA signed a second MoU of this kind with the Reserve Bank of Australia ("RBA") effective as of February 18th 2015 to allow the RBA to have access to data held in European trade repositories according to its mandate. The aim of this type of MoU is to ensure that third-country authorities that do not have any trade repository in their jurisdiction and who have established cooperation arrangements with ESMA, such as Australia, may access the information on derivatives contracts held in European trade repositories which is relevant for their mandates in a manner consistent with and permitted by article 76 of EMIR and other applicable laws and regulations.
On March 9th 2015 ESMA signed another type of MoU with the Monetary Authority of Singapore ("MAS") effective as of March 10th to ensure that:
- cooperation arrangements are established between the signatory authorities regarding CCPs in Singapore who are authorised by the MAS and have applied for recognition under EMIR and
- to provide ESMA with adequate tools to monitor the ongoing compliance of the CCPs with the recognition conditions.
Pursuant to article 25(2)(c) of EMIR the establishment of cooperation arrangements are a precondition for ESMA to recognise CCSPs established in Singapore to provide services to clearing members or trading venues established in Europe.
