On August 20, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a letter written jointly with the European Banking Authority (EBA) and addressed to the European Commission (EC) relating to cryptoassets. The letter responds to a letter from the Commission dated July 19.

The letter begins by welcoming the EC’s work responding to issues identified in the January 2019 reports by ESMA and the EBA on cryptoassets and initial coin offerings (for more information, see the January 11, 2019 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest). ESMA and the EBA agree that it is vital that further work progresses urgently to inform any actions taken by the new EC.
Continue Reading ESMA and EBA Respond to Letter From European Commission on Cryptoassets Work

On July 23, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a revised framework for mandatory initial margin applicable to swaps that are not cleared with a central clearing party. The key revision was the insertion of an additional year into the implementation schedule for the margin rules.
Continue Reading Delay of Final Implementation of Swap Initial Margin Rules

On May 28, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a consultation paper on regulating crypto-asset trading platforms (CTPs).

The consultation paper describes issues and risks identified by IOSCO in relation to CTPs. The consultation paper describes key considerations and provides related toolkits that are intended to assist regulatory authorities who may be evaluating

At the 44th Annual International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Conference in Sydney, Australia, the Chairmen of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission took part in a signing ceremony on May 15 for the IOSCO Enhanced Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and Cooperation and the Exchange of Information (EMMoU).
Continue Reading CFTC and SEC Participate in the Signing Ceremony for the IOSCO Enhanced Multilateral MOU Concerning Cross-Border Enforcement

On April 29, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Chris Giancarlo sent a letter to Randy Quarles, the Vice Chair for Supervision of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, in which he proposed that the US regulators responsible for the administering the margin rules for uncleared swaps should collaborate in providing some relief to non-dealer swap market participants who may become subject to initial margin requirements in 2020. The specific relief would be the issuance of the same guidance issued by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) in March (for more information, see the March 8, 2019 edition of Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest), which stated that in-scope parties do not have to put in place compliant documentation and custodial relationships if there is no expectation that the exposure associated with their swaps will actually exceed the regulatory threshold for posting initial margin ($50 million for the United States).
Continue Reading CFTC Chair Proposes Relief for Phase 5 Initial Margin Implementation

On March 5, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) issued guidance on two issues that have been identified in connection with the implementation of the framework for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives previously adopted by the two groups that initially went into effect in 2016. This framework is embodied in the margin rules for uncleared swaps that were adopted in the United States by the banking regulators for swap dealers subject to prudential regulation and by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for other swap dealers.
Continue Reading BCBS/IOSCO Provide Guidance on Uncleared Swap Margin Rule Implementation

On July 16, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report on the work of the FSB and standard setting bodies on cryptoassets. The report was delivered to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors ahead of their meeting on July 21 – 22.

The standard setting bodies, whose work is summarized in the FSB’s report, are: (1) the FSB itself; (2) the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI); (3) the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO); and (4) the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
Continue Reading FSB Publishes Report on Cryptoassets

On April 10, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), in conjunction with the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, published a framework for supervisory stress testing of central counterparties (CCPs) in a single jurisdiction or across multiple jurisdictions. The framework’s focus is stated to be the evaluation of “broad, macro-level impacts across multiple CCPs.”
Continue Reading IOSCO Produces CCP Stress Test Framework

On January 12, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published its policy recommendations (Recommendations) to address risks to global financial stability from structural vulnerabilities associated with asset management activities. The FSB consulted on its proposed recommendations in June 2016, and the FSB has incorporated responses to the consultation addressing specific structural vulnerabilities into the Recommendations. The document sets out 14 final policy recommendations to address the following structural vulnerabilities from asset management activities that could potentially present financial stability risks: (1) liquidity mismatch between fund investments and redemption terms and conditions for open-ended fund units; (2) leverage within investment funds; (3) the operational risks and challenges of asset managers in stressed conditions; and (4) securities lending activities of asset managers and funds.
Continue Reading FSB Publishes Policy Recommendations Relating to Asset Management Structural Vulnerabilities

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will host a roundtable on October 6 to gather feedback in relation to a report on central counterparty resilience and recovery recently published by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). Roundtable panelists will include US derivatives clearing organizations (DCOs), their