The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) released guidelines that apply to counterparties to securities financing transactions (SFTs), trade repositories and competent authorities. The guidelines apply in relation to the SFT reporting obligation and includes clarifications around reporting start dates.
The counterparties, entities responsible for reporting and the report submitting entities are encouraged to use them starting from the first day on which the relevant reporting obligation with the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR) becomes applicable.
The guidelines aim to clarify a number of provisions of SFTR and to provide practical guidance on the implementation of some of those provisions, and are expected to contribute to the reduction of costs along the complete reporting chain – the counterparties that report the data, the TRs which put in place the procedures to verify the completeness and correctness of data, and the authorities that use the data to supervise risks to financial stability.