Spokespeople at two leading European clearing houses have given a cautious welcome to the proposals for regulating central counterparty clearing houses, published for comment by the European Commission this week.
CCPs were one of the main focuses of the document, which is a way for the EC to seek market input as it drafts legislation on derivatives and market infrastructure, due to be published in September.
The emphasis on regulating CCPs reflects the fact that greater use of CCP clearing is at the heart of the EC’s ideas for making the derivatives market safer and more transparent. At present CCPs are regulated nationally, and although the large ones are all regarded as very robust by users, in some respects structures and practices do vary widely, especially among smaller clearing houses.
The Commission said: “Robust arrangements, which are harmonised at EU level, on risk controls and resources need to be...