The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority will adopt EU rules for derivatives trading under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation, or MiFIR, in a move to avoid market disruption after the end of the Brexit transition period Dec. 31.
Given there still is no agreement on equivalence of financial regulation between the EU and the U.K., the derivatives trading, especially by branches of EU financial institutions in the U.K., would be "caught by a conflict of law" between the two jurisdictions, the FCA said.
Therefore, the regulator has decided to temporarily allow U.K. firms and financial institutions operating from the U.K. to use EU derivatives trading venues to execute trades on behalf of their EU clients, provided the trade cannot be executed on another venue to which both the U.K. and EU have granted equivalence, the FCA said.
The FCA is using the temporary transitional power granted by the U.K. government to modify the U.K. derivatives trading obligation, or DTO, so it is in line with the current EU DTO.
"We expect firms and other regulated persons to be able to demonstrate they are taking all reasonable steps during the first quarter of 2021 to ensure compliance with the U.K. DTO," the FCA said.
Open to cooperation with EU
The regulator said it may review its approach from March 31, 2021, based on market and regulatory developments over the next three months. "The FCA remains open to cooperation with EU authorities on ways of avoiding conflicting obligations," the regulator said.
The European Securities and Markets Authority said in November it will not amend the so-called DTO under MiFIR without an equivalence decision from the European Commission, meaning all EU-denominated derivatives trades would have to be executed within the EU from Jan. 1, 2021.
Most trades falling under the EU DTO are currently being executed on U.K. venues, with the value of derivative trades at stake estimated at over €50 trillion, according to media reports.
Following ESMA's announcement, trade associations called on the European Commission to recognize U.K. derivatives trading venues before year-end. French financial regulator AFM warned that about 70% of the volume of operations executed by branches of the EU banks in the U.K. would be at risk of being lost or being carried out on U.S. swap execution facilities, if EU derivatives trade rules were not amended.