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KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DODD-FRANK AND EMIR Anthony Belchambers, CEO, FOA 27 th October 2011. DRIVERS FOR TRANSATLANTIC CONVERGENCE. Shared post-crisis policy objectives and market targets
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KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DODD-FRANK AND EMIR Anthony Belchambers, CEO, FOA 27th October 2011
DRIVERS FOR TRANSATLANTIC CONVERGENCE • Shared post-crisis policy objectives and market targets • Industry priority to avoid needless regulatory duplication, conflict and cost of cross-border dealings • ESMA, SEC and CFTC convergence work • EU legislation is still under negotiation and susceptible to change • US enthusiasm to encourage the EU to “copy out” the US approach, which is less susceptible to change
drivers AGAINST TRANSATLANTIC divergence • Some differences are inevitable, given different market structures, political pressures and regulatory priorities • Jurisdictions tend to “cherry pick” international standards • Differences in legal systems • Industry need to sustain market diversity, customer choice and business flexibility • Differentiated approach of Asian (and other) nations to regulatory repair
key differences (1) Margin and capital requirements for bilaterally “cleared” swaps Multilateral execution of CCP-cleared swaps Regulatory scope for large-size end-users Derivatives capability of banks Exemption for non-financial end-users Scope of the intra-group exemption Position limits v position management Segregation of client money
key differences (2) Ownership of market infrastructures Scope of CCP access rights Protection of the price formation process Foreign regulatory recognition Top-down / bottom-up approach to CCP clearing eligibility ----------------------------- Scope of Basel implementation Time differences in implementation
REASONS FOR TIME DIFFERENCES IN IMPLEMENTATION • EU legislative, regulatory and political structures much more complex than the US • Differences in approach to consultation • Differences in political pressures • The programme for regulatory repair has snagged on too many “nice to haves”, populist priorities and cost and resourcing difficulties
POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES • A more restrictive and host-state driven approach to cross-border rights of market and customer access • Extraterritorial application of domestic rules, with potentially serious consequences for compliance complexity, legal risk and cost, based on e.g. • US commercial/economic effect • US customers • US presence • Non-US affiliates of US regulated institutions • Perceived evasion of CFTC rules • Definition of “swaps”, e.g. what is domestic/non-domestic NB. Comparative issues arising out of AIMFD, EMIR, MiFID, etc. • Enhancement of the benefits of regulatory arbitrage (driven also by other factors such as employment law, tax and business flexibility)