The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) today declared that in case the UK left the EU with no deal, it would authorize three central counterparties from the UK to operate in the EU legally. The three CCPs are LCH Limited, LME Clear Limited and ICE Clear Europe Limited, which are all registered and headquartered in the UK.
Today’s announcement is not surprising as ESMA has previously stated that its supervisory board supports the idea of UK CCPs retaining access to the EU markets. This would help ensure that central clearing in the EU will not be disrupted, which could affect the regions financial beauty.
Earlier this month, ESMA and other EU regulators had signed a MoU with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority to facilitate cooperation and the smooth flow of information between the regulators in case of a hard Brexit.
ESMA stated that it had done extensive consultations with pertinent authorities and that the three UK CCPs had met the recognition conditions set out in Article 25 of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).