On 17 May 2010, the EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Michel Barnier, gave a press conference upon his return from his official visit to the US and following recent calls by Heads of State and Government to accelerate the pace of financial reform. In the press conference Commissioner Barnier set out where the EU and US stand on delivering G20 commitments on regulatory reform and the next steps to fulfil those commitments.
The Commission published:
- A webcast of the press conference.
- Slides for the press conference.
- A progress table which outlines the progress made by the EU, as at May 2010, in implementing the financial regulatory commitments of the G20.
In relation to over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives work the progress table stated:
- Mandatory clearing of eligible derivatives will be covered by the draft European Markets Infrastructure Legislation (EMIL) this summer. EMIL will impose strict requirements on central counterparties to ensure their safety.
- There will be an initiative on short selling this autumn, with possible inclusion of specific measures for credit default swaps (CDS).
- Higher capital requirements for non-CCP cleared transactions in CRD IV (for adoption by the end of this year).
- The MiFID review (for adoption early 2011), will enhance transparency of trading, examine ways to ensure suitable derivatives are traded on exchanges or other organised venues, extend transaction reporting to regulators for OTC derivatives and create categories of traders active in the commodity derivatives market.
- The review of the Market Abuse Directive (for adoption by the end of this year) will extend rules on market manipulation to OTC derivatives and will also assess the possibility of granting regulators the powers to introduce position limits and create categories of traders active in the commodity derivatives market.
View Press conference on financial regulatory reform, 17 May 2010
