13/10/2023

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has extended for a limited period of six months the emergency measures which temporarily expand the pool of eligible collateral for all types of counterparties. Uncollateralised bank guarantees for non-financial counterparties (NFCs) acting as clearing members and public guarantees for all types of counterparties will continue to be temporarily eligible by central counterparties (CCPs) in order to avoid potential disruption during the upcoming cold season.

The temporary measures set out in ESMA’s Final Report were adopted during the height of the energy crisis to alleviate the liquidity pressure on NFCs active on gas and electricity regulated markets that clear in EU-based CCPs.

Next steps

The Final Report has been sent to the European Commission for endorsement and will be subject to a scrutiny procedure by the European Parliament and the Council.