On March 18, 2015, the International Organization of Securities Commissions and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published a revised version of their policy framework regarding minimum standards for margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. The new framework contains several substantive changes from the previous policy framework published by BCBS and IOSCO in September 2013. The framework consists of key principles aimed to ensure harmonization across jurisdictions. The requirements apply to financial firms and systemically important non-financial entities ("covered entities"), the definitions for which are left to national regulation. BCBS and IOSCO have no power to impose any mandatory requirements on regulatory authorities, but rather serve as a reference for national regulators as they adopt their respective margin regimes. The main revisions pertain to the phase in period for posting and collecting initial margin which has been delayed from December 1, 2015 to September 1, 2016. Additionally, the phase-in period for required variation margin, originally set to begin on December 1, 2015, will now begin on September 1, 2016 for covered entities belonging to a group whose aggregate month-end average notional amount of non-centrally cleared derivatives exceeds €3 trillion and March 1, 2017 for all other covered entities. There has currently been no formal statement from US or EU regulatory authorities regarding delay to implementation. The revised policy framework is available at: http://www.bis.org/bcbs/publ/d317.pdf
The summary of key revisions to the September 2013 policy framework is available at: http://www.bis.org/bcbs/publ/d317_summarytable.pdf
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