Proposed Regulation on improving securities settlement

On 21 June 2013, the Council of the European Union published a progress report on the proposed Regulation on improving securities settlement and on central securities depositaries (CSDs).   The report explains that, while there is a large measure of agreement on the proposal, a number of provisions are still subject to some reservations. These include:

• settlement discipline (Article 7): there is a need for further discussion of this article in order to find the appropriate balance between mandatory buy-in regimes and allowing flexibility for some securities. The main
  outstanding issue is the flexibility allowed in the extension period for failed
  buy-ins;
• third country regimes (Article 23): a few Member States oppose the need to include a third country regime as they would prefer this to be an area of national competence;
• authorisation and definition of CSD links: there is need for further discussion around the definitions for CSD links and consequently which CSD links require prior authorisation and which require notification. Further discussion is required on what level of risk would require a link to be preauthorised;
• authorisation of banking CSDs (Article 53): the main outstanding
  issue is the process by which a CSD is approved to provide banking services;
• conflict of laws (Article 46): a few Member States would have preferred Article 46 not to have been deleted.

On 25 June 2013, the European Parliament updated its Legislative
Observatory procedure file on the proposed Regulation to indicate that the
proposal is due to be considered at its plenary session to be held from 9 to 12
December 2013.

 Related Link:

http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/13/st11/st11305.en13.pdf