March 24, 2015 – the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) adopted its report on securities financing transactions (SFTs). This document reflects ECON's final position on measures to monitor the build-up of risk related to SFTs, disclosure of information on such transactions to investors, and contractual transparency requirements for re-hypothecation activities. Special attention is given to the exemption of title transfer collateral arrangements (such as the ISDA credit support documentation) from the transparency requirements in Art. 15.1a. This exemption is helpful as different political groups (eg, Socialists and Greens) and the European Commission (EC) previously supported wording that failed to adequately reflect the difference between title transfer and security interest arrangements. The Council of the European Union, European Parliament and EC will now attempt to reach an agreement before September.
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