EFAMA, AIMA, ICI Global, and ISDA have published a joint statement on the European Commission’s proposed active account requirement under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR 3.0). The associations, alongside FIA, BFPI Ireland, EACB, FIA EPTA, Federation of the Dutch Pension Funds, Finance Denmark and the Nordic Securities Association, have urged EU policymakers to delete the proposed active account requirement. They have instead asked the European Commission to focus efforts on streamlining the supervisory framework for EU CCPs across member states while making the EU CCPs’ offering for clearing in the EU more attractive and innovative. Encouraging measures would provide a path to the sustainable growth of EU CCPs while maintaining competitive and open markets. The statement highlights the implications the proposed active account requirement would have on EU capital markets by introducing fragmentation, loss of netting benefits, and making the EU less resilient to market stresses with no benefit to EU financial stability. The statement also asserts that this requirement will create a competitive disadvantage for EU firms compared to third-country firms, who will remain able to transact in global markets without restrictions. EU clients that are required to clear at an EU CCP to comply with an active account threshold could be forced to accept an uncompetitive price wherever the price available at an EU CCP is higher than what is available at a Tier 2 CCP.
