By Gillian Smith

On March 31, 2017, the European Commission published a draft version of an Implementing Regulation on the extension of the transitional periods related to own funds requirements for exposures to Central Counterparties ("CCPs"), set out in the Capital Requirements Regulation (Regulation 575/2013) ("CRR") and EMIR.

The Commission adopted an initial Implementing Regulation (Regulation 591/2014) in June 2014, extending the 15-month periods referred to in Article 497(1) and (2) of the CRR and in the first and second subparagraphs of Article 89(5)(a) of EMIR by six months, to December 15, 2014. The most recent Implementing Regulation, adopted by the European Commission on December 9, 2016, extended the transitional periods to December 15, 2016.

To avoid market disruption and to prevent penalizing institutions by subjecting them to higher own funds requirements during the process of authorization and recognition of existing CCPs, the latest Implementing Regulation extends the transitional periods by an additional six months, to June 15, 2017.

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