The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has launched a consultation on draft Guidelines on the calculation of positions by Trade Repositories (TRs) under the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR).
The aim of the Guidelines is to ensure consistency of position calculation across TRs, with regard to the time of calculations, the scope of the data used in calculations, the data preparation, the recordkeeping of data and the calculation methodologies.
The Consultation Paper on draft Guidelines sets out the relevant clarification to Trade Repositories (TRs) with regards to the compliance with Article 4(6) of SFTR setting out a general requirement for TRs to calculate positions (by cross-reference to Article 80 of EMIR). Furthermore, Article 12(2) of SFTR requires TRs to collect and maintain details of SFTs (i.e., including positions) and Article 5 of RTS on data aggregation specifically requires TRs to calculate positions in SFTs in a harmonised and consistent manner.
High-quality position data is necessary for the assessment of systemic risks to financial stability by the relevant authorities.
The proposed Guidelines cover two main types of aggregation – the named positions between counterparties and the sectorial positions for the purposes of FSB reporting.
These Guidelines will also ensure a consistent methodology is used under EMIR and SFTR, while still reflecting the specificities of SFT reporting
Next steps
The closing date for responses is 15 September 2020. ESMA will consider the responses to this consultation with a view to finalise the proposed Guidelines and to publish a final report in Q4 2020/Q1-2021.