Yesterday saw some announcements just before the seasonal break:

The Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER)  published its response to the recent consultation on the MiFID II position limits regime (see here). The response objects to the proposal to remove the “REMIT carve out” found in MiFID II Annex I Section C, that removes gas and power based physical forwards traded on an Organised Trading Facility (OTF) that “must be physically settled” from the scope of financial regulation. The response can be found here.

ESMA published this press release announcing that the equivalence recognition of the three relevant UK based CCPs in the event of a “hard Brexit” has been extended by a year to 30 March 2021. The extension was previously requested for the possibility that no deal is reached between the UK and the EU at the end of the implementation period of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement which ends on 31 December 2020 (see here).

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also published this page on their web site providing advice on the impact of the Brexit implementation period.

Wishing all readers warmest seasonal greetings.