(1)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 153/2013 (2) lays down regulatory technical standards on requirements for central counterparties (CCPs) to accept highly liquid collateral with minimal credit and market risk.

(2)

Recent political and market developments have led to significant price and volatility increases on energy markets, which have triggered substantial margin increases by CCPs to cover the related exposures. Those margin increases have created liquidity strains on non-financial counterparties, which typically have fewer and less liquid assets to meet margin requirements. As a consequence, those non-financial counterparties have been forced to either reduce their positions or leave them not properly hedged, which exposes them to further price variations.

(3)

In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the Union financial and energy markets under the current circumstances and to alleviate the liquidity pressure on non-financial counterparties active on gas and electricity regulated markets cleared in CCPs established in the Union, the pool of eligible collateral available to non-financial clearing members should temporarily be expanded to include uncollateralised bank guarantees.

(4)

In order to contain the liquidity strains observed on energy derivative markets, guarantees issued or backed by public entities should also be considered as eligible collateral for financial and non-financial counterparties by the CCP, given that those guarantees have low counterparty credit risk and are irrevocable, unconditional and can be honoured within the period of liquidation of the portfolio of the defaulting clearing member, therefore carrying limited liquidity risk.

(5)

The risks related to an expansion of eligible collateral to uncollateralised bank guarantees and public guarantees are expected to remain limited, as the expansion would be subject to the risk management safeguards of the CCP and all other applicable requirements, as laid down in Delegated Regulation (EU) No 153/2013, would continue to apply.

(6)

Delegated Regulation (EU) No 153/2013 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(7)

In order to further limit the risks associated to the acceptance of uncollateralised bank guarantees for non-financial clearing members and public guarantees for financial and non-financial clearing members as collateral, those measures should be of temporary nature and granted for a period of 12 months, providing relief to market participants and incentivising them to return to the markets.

(8)

In the light of the recent market developments, it is necessary to expand the pool of eligible collateral available to non-financial clearing members as quickly as possible. This Regulation should therefore enter into force as a matter of urgency.

(9)

This Regulation is based on draft regulatory technical standards submitted to the Commission by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), after consulting the European Banking Authority, the European Systemic Risk Board and the European System of Central Banks.

(10)

ESMA has not conducted open public consultations on the draft regulatory technical standards on which this Regulation is based, nor did it analyse the potential costs and benefits, as this would have been highly disproportionate to the scope and impact of the amendments to be adopted, taking into account the urgent nature and the limited scope of the proposed changes. Given the urgency, ESMA has not requested the advice of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group established in accordance with Article 37 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3). The Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group will be informed thereof pursuant to that provision,

(1)

in Article 39, the following second paragraph is added:

‘Until 29 November 2023, for the purposes of Article 46(1) of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012, public guarantees that meet the conditions set out in Annex I shall be considered as highly liquid collateral.’;

(2)

in Article 62, second paragraph, the following sentence is added:

‘However, Section 2, paragraph 1, point (h), of Annex I shall not apply in respect of transactions on derivatives, as referred to in Article 2(4), points (b) and (d), of Regulation (EU) No 1227/2011 from 29 November 2022 to 29 November 2023.’;

(3)

Annex I is amended in accordance with the Annex to this Regulation.