It is interesting to think the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) planned to start accepting from April applications for licences to operate as an investment firm under a new EU financial regime that was slated to come in in early 2017. Now the start of the second markets in financial instruments directive (MiFID II) has […]
Energy Connections
ESMA makes interesting point on physical forwards
A contact has pointed out an interesting line in the guidelines published on physical power and gas forwards for dealing with current EU financial regulation. The European Markets and Securities Authority (ESMA) has tried to clear up what is a derivative and what is a physical forward under the first version of the Markets in […]
MiFID consultation responses out
ESMA has published the responses to its MiFID consultation. I am at a conference so will go through them later.
Energy industry’s MiFID angst likely to fall on deaf ears
A consultation on MiFID ended last night, and commodity traders will be interested to see what, if any, changes might come out of the proposal technical standards. Energy traders are worried the tests to gain an exemption from MiFID are too low as proposed (read more here). A representative from industry group EFET said almost […]
ESMA publishes MiFID hearing video
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published the video of its MiFID hearing that took place in Paris on Thursday 19 February. I was at the meeting and will write a post later on my thoughts, but in the meantime you can read two stories that have sprung from the meeting already: MiFID […]
The difficulty of defining a derivative – part XX
The FT has reported that European authorities are postponing the reporting of all foreign exchange derivatives until MiFID II comes in, in 2017. The problem is agreeing on a definition of what is a derivative, with different countries using differing definitions – something will sound familiar to anyone aware of the debate on physical power and […]
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 […]
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 […]
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