Singapore, 9 March 2015… The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish cooperation arrangements regarding Central Counterparties (CCPs) in Singapore that have applied for recognition under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation.

2.         The MOU fulfils a pre-condition for ESMA to recognise CCPs in Singapore to provide clearing services to European Union (EU) participants and trading venues. This paves the way for ESMA-recognised CCPs in Singapore to be used by EU market participants to satisfy their mandatory clearing obligations under EU law.  EU banks will also enjoy lower capital charges for their clearing exposures to these recognised CCPs. To date, Singapore Exchange Derivatives Clearing Limited, The Central Depository (Pte) Limited and ICE Clear Singapore have applied to ESMA for recognition.

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Note to editor:

The MOU is established under the European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). EMIR provides for cooperation arrangements to be established between ESMA and non-EU authorities whose legal and supervisory framework for CCPs have been deemed equivalent to EMIR by the European Commission.  The European Commission had on 30 October 2014 adopted this equivalence decision for the regulatory regime of CCPs in Singapore.