Intercontinental Exchange has announced that, in the event of a no-deal Brexit scenario, ICE Clear Europe has been recognised as a third-country central counterparty (CCP) in accordance with the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
“We are pleased to receive this recognition, which means that ICE Clear Europe can continue to service all its clearing members and customers, including those based in the EU, in the event of the UK leaving the European Union without a withdrawal agreement,” said Finbarr Hutcheson, President of ICE Clear Europe. “We thank the European Commission, Bank of England, and European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for its work securing this recognition and, in doing so, removing any uncertainty around the ability of EU-based market participants to access ICE Clear Europe.”
The recognition as a third-country CCP is described in Article 25 of EMIR, the Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 04 July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories. In the absence of a withdrawal agreement being entered into between the UK and the EU in accordance with Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union, or a decision being taken to extend the two year period referred to in Article 50(3) of the Treaty on European Union, ICE Clear Europe’s recognition shall apply from March 30, 2019.
With approximately 4 million contracts cleared every day across multiple asset classes, ICE Clear Europe is one of the world’s most diverse and leading clearing houses. ICE Clear Europe provides central counterparty clearing and risk management services for interest rate, equity index, agricultural and energy derivatives, as well as European credit default swaps.
As part of its strategy to provide clearing services in the regulatory jurisdictions and time zones where its customers conduct business, ICE Clear Europe offers secure, capital-efficient clearing, risk management and physical delivery services. To help mitigate systemic risk and protect the interests of its clearing members and customers, ICE Clear Europe holds over $4.5 billion in its guaranty fund and is regulated by the Bank of England in the U.K. and by the SEC and CFTC in the U.S. Additionally, ICE Clear Europe was recently recognised as a foreign central counterparty by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority.