C 204/6
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
12.6.2023
With a view to preserving flexibility for potential joint supervisory activities with respect to ad hoc supervisory concerns that may arise, it should be possible to extend joint supervisory activities to areas not foreseen at the time of the previous annual review.
In this context, the ECB welcomes the possibility for competent authorities of EU CCPs to request assistance in ongoing supervisory work (11), in line with the ‘no compulsion – no prohibition’ principle.
Should JSTs be established, as set out in the Commission proposal, the ECB would support the participation of the clearing members’ relevant supervisors in JSTs, given the importance of the nexus between clearing members and EU CCPs, and of the relevant central banks of issue and overseers, given their wider systemic perspective on the risk management of CCPs.
1.2.
European Securities and Markets Authority
1.2.1.
ESMA’s role in fostering supervisory convergence and cross-border risk mitigation A well-functioning Capital Markets Union requires closely aligned practices in EU CCP supervision.
With a view to further promoting supervisory convergence and the consistent application of EMIR across EU CCPs, the ECB supports the proposals for strengthening the role of ESMA, as one of the European Supervisory Authorities.
In particular, ESMA should have a voting right in the colleges and provide opinions on draft supervisory decisions pertaining to the annual review and evaluation, margin requirements and the withdrawal of authorisation.
The ECB also supports the proposed process for ESMA opinions addressed to the EU CCP’s competent authority (12).
This is fully in line with the horizontal participation of ESMA in all colleges and its resulting unique capacity and important role in promoting a consistent assessment of common issues across colleges.
1.2.2.
Cross-border coordination in crisis situations The ECB agrees that there is a need to strengthen the Union framework for coordination between relevant authorities in the event of stress situations that impact, or are likely to impact, EU CCPs or centrally cleared markets more generally.
This is essential both with a view to identify and address Union-wide contagion risks, arising from stress situations at individual EU CCPs, at an early stage and to achieve a well-coordinated and Union-wide response to such Union-wide emergencies.
A more specific framework for emergency situations will help clarify expectations of the relevant authorities and CCPs regarding the practical steps to be followed, speed up the Union’s response to such emergency situations and reduce the potential risk of conflicting approaches of those authorities.
Therefore, the ECB welcomes the proposed revision of the provisions for emergency situations (13), including the specification of relevant emergency scenarios, the formal coordinating role of ESMA, the possibility for ESMA to directly retrieve the information necessary for this coordinating role and its power to issue emergency recommendations to competent authorities in situations where more than one EU CCP would be impacted by the emergency situation or where Union-wide events are destabilising cross-border centrally cleared markets.
A well-coordinated response to serious stress events impacting central clearing in the Union requires the effective interaction of the CCP Supervisory Committee with other relevant authorities.
Relevant central banks of issue should therefore always be invited to meetings of the CCP Supervisory Committee that are convened when developments in financial markets may have an adverse effect on market liquidity, the transmission of monetary policy or the smooth operation of payment systems.
This would also ensure consistency with the proposed regulation’s approach, whereby central banks of issue would be involved in all discussions on EU CCPs (see paragraph 1.3.1 below).
(11) See Article 1, point (18), of the proposed regulation, which inserts a new Article 23b(2d) in EMIR.
(12) See Article 1, points (12) and (17), of the proposed regulation.
(13) See Article 1, point (19), of the proposed regulation.