EC’s OTC derivatives rules leave questions unanswered

The European Commission finally unveiled legislation on over-the-counter derivatives on September 15, but the text leaves many of the thorny issues to be determined by the European Securities Market Authority. How will the new agency determine which products should be subject to a mandatory clearing obligation? Joel Clark reports

The long-awaited publication of proposed regulation on over-the-counter derivatives by the European Commission (EC) on September 15 was expected to be a landmark moment, but in the end it was more of a damp squib. Widely leaked in advance, the text contained few surprises and left some of the most important technical details to be determined further down the line by a new pan-European supervisory authority. As the text now passes to the European Parliament and European Union (EU) member states