The European Association of CCP Clearing Houses (Each) was granted the status of a not-for-profit international association (AISBL), established under Belgian law, in late March 2013.
With this step, EACH has become the first legally registered representative organisation of clearing houses globally. EACH will be based in Brussels, in close proximity to political and regulatory decision makers.
The new setup aims to improve the association's effectiveness and will support EACH's consultation with public authorities and representatives from the financial industry on a broad range of issues. EACH can now more strongly act as the consolidated voice of its 23 members in regulatory discussions and consultations, and help member CCPs to agree appropriate standards and guidelines.
Currently, among the most urgent topics for the organisation are the numerous differences between the EU and the US requirements for CCPs. Chairman Marcus Zickwolff and his colleagues will start discussing with the EU Commission in April to highlight the discrepancies between the European Market Infrastructure Regulation ("EMIR") together with the regulatory technical standards ("RTS") issued by the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA"), and implementation of CCP and derivatives regulation in non- European jurisdictions.
"We would really like to draw the attention to the gap between the implementation of the CPSS-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures in different jurisdictions globally and urge regulators to reconsider the results in upcoming reviews of the regulation with th eultimate goal to avoid global regulatory arbitrage," said Marcus Zickwolff, chairman of EACH.