A couple of interesting stories floating around today. The FT reports that a senior UK banker has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the rigging of the Libor interbank rate. The second comes from Sky News, which reports that two directors of HSBC’s UK arm are poised to quit in protest at new Bank of […]
Energy Connections
ESMA’s 2015 work programme
The European Securities Markets Authority has been in a bit of a publishing frenzy recently. Included in its output this week is its work programme, which can be found here. Two dates to watch out for: a consultation on the market abuse regulation slated for Q2 ’15, and guidelines for the markets in financial instruments […]
ESMA consults on physical gas and power forwards
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released the latest installment of the saga on whether physical power and gas forwards are derivatives. If they are, then most over-the-counter trades in power and gas would come within the scope of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation – EMIR. That would mean energy companies would have to […]
Threat to EMIR three-year phasing in of clearing obligation
ESMA has published responses to its consultation on the clearing obligation for credit default swaps under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation or EMIR. For energy companies similar complaints have been written about the current proposal as with interest rate swaps. Under EMIR, energy companies that have a net notional value of their outstanding position above €3bn […]
Scotland and the UK energy markets
The future of Scotland is up for grabs on Thursday as voters decide if it should remain part of the UK or go solo. The ramifications for a yes vote are huge, as the debate in the media has shown. Currency has been one of the big points of debate, with the yes side arguing […]
Knowing what is in your REMIT
As mentioned in this blog recently and in this ICIS story today, the implementing acts for REMIT are likely to come in November. It is possible they might come sooner. In the article linked to above, some market participants complain about the six-month timeframe companies will have to digest the implementing acts before they have to […]
Waiting for the final act of REMIT
One of the most important documents for energy companies this year will be the implementing acts for REMIT. Six months after they are published, companies will have to start reporting trades, as well as orders to trade. The European Commission was supposed to publish the acts by Q3, but missed this deadline. At a meeting […]
ESMA to host hearing on market abuse regulation
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will host an open hearing at its office in Paris on 8 October on its consultations on the draft technical standards and implementing measures for the market abuse regulation. The hearings are not the most exciting of affairs dominated by EU legalese, but are worth attending for anyone keeping on […]
Deutsche Bank fined for misreporting trades
Consultant Avid Handler blogged about Deutsche Bank being fined £4.7m by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and what it might mean for the energy industry, which now reports some trades under EMIR. The bank was fined for misreporting, erroneously, equity CFD trades under MiFID for several years. So do energy companies need to worry about […]
ISDA conference coming to London
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association is holding its regional conference in London on 23 September. Commodity derivatives will only form a small part of the agenda I’m sure, but useful to get an insight into how regulations has affected the financial industry, particularly as financial-style regulation is rolled out to the commodities sector.
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