Commission welcomes political agreement on the clearing package, a boost for the capital markets union

The European Commission welcomes the political agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission’s clearing package. The new rules will contribute to making EU clearing services more attractive and robust, preserving financial stability and supporting a well-functioning capital markets union.

The new rules will enable central counterparties (CCPs) – which provide clearing services – to bring new products to the EU market faster. This will give market participants an incentive to clear and build liquidity at EU CCPs. The new rules also allow for a safer and more resilient clearing system, by improving the EU supervisory framework for CCPs, reinforcing the role of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), and drawing lessons from the market events of the past few years. The new framework would also contribute to reducing excessive reliance on systemic CCPs in non-EU countries, by requiring all relevant market participants to hold active accounts at EU CCPs and clear a representative portion of certain systemic derivative contracts within the single market.

These Commission proposals were part of the clearing, insolvency and listing package presented in December 2022. They amend the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and make targeted amendments to the prudential frameworks for banks and for investment firms as well as to the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive and the Money Market Funds (MMF) Regulation.

Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, said: “I welcome the agreement on the EMIR Regulation and the clearing package in general. It will help make our clearing ecosystem safer and more attractive while mitigating some of the risks of excessive reliance on central counterparties located in third countries. In particular, the measures facilitating the supply of clearing services and enhancing EU level supervision are welcome. That being said, I would have preferred a higher ambition regarding the active account. The agreement is nevertheless a crucial first step to boost clearing in the EU and to allow our work on the capital markets union to progress”.