With only a couple of weeks left before additional energy trade reporting requirements kick in, trading firms are trying to solve various last-minute issues. Since October 2015, under the regulation for wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (REMIT), firms registered as market participants have been reporting to the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) all […]
Energy Connections
ACER looks to form group on energy derivatives
EU regulators agency ACER is looking for people to form an ad-hoc expert group on energy commodity derivatives. This is hardly surprising given how difficult defining energy derivatives has become, and the even harder part of understanding which EU legislation an energy derivative or physical forward falls under. The group will advise the agency on […]
UK urged to extend max jail term for market abuse to 10 years
The Bank of England has suggested that the max jail term for anyone guilty of market abuse be extended to 10 years from the current 7, in its Fair and Effective Markets Review out on Tuesday evening. If the UK government follows through with the suggestion, this means anyone guilty of insider trading or market […]
Potential Danish REMIT breach referred to public prosecutor
Some interesting information emerged on Thursday, when the Danish regulator said it has asked the Danish Prosecution Service to start a criminal investigation into whether a company has manipulated the wholesale gas market. If the case leads to a prosecution it could be quite significant. I do not know of any convictions for REMIT breaches that […]
FCA fines Merrill Lynch International £13m for failing to report trades
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has fined Merrill Lynch International for incorrectly reporting 35,034,810 transactions, and failing to report another 121,387 from November 2007 to November 2014. The US bank was required to report the trades under the Markets if Financial Instruments Directive – MiFID. The fine gives some interesting insight into the world many energy […]
Thirty investigations for potential REMIT breaches open at end of 2014
ACER has launched a quarterly report on REMIT, and one interesting nugget is that 30 cases of potential breaches of the regulation were being investigated at the end of 2014. The agency said 14 investigations were closed during 2014. Potential REMIT breaches are investigated by national authorities rather than the agency, although ACER can coordinate […]
ACER launches updated REMIT Q&A
ACER published a third version of its REMIT Q&A on Wednesday evening. It is an easy-read guide on the who, what, when, where of REMIT. You can find the Q&A here. The ACER portal has a lot of useful info and documents on REMIT generally. One date to look out for is 17 March when […]
ACER’s need for bodies through the door
The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators – ACER – has not being shy of stating its need for extra funding so it can properly monitor energy markets and other responsibilities it will assume under REMIT. The Ljubljana-based agency has laid out what it needs in its 2015 work programme – 15 new staff. […]
Provisional list for REMIT trading venues published
ACER has released the provisional list of organised trading venues for REMIT. Any trades agreed through one of these platforms will needed to be reported from the first phase of trade reporting under REMIT. The agency is running a consultation until December, so changes to the list are possible.
REMIT webinar coming
I’ll be hosting a webinar on the practical application of REMIT next week. I’ll have Aviv Handler of consultancy ETR Advisory and Gordon Downie of law firm Sheppherd and Wedderburn. Follow this link to sign up. Here is the blurb: Established energy market intelligence provider, ICIS, has announced a free webinar which will take place […]