Financial counterparty

European Market Infrastructure Regulation Anatomy™ →Go uptown “Financial counterparty” means an investment firm authorised in accordance with Directive 2004/39/EC, a credit institution authorised in accordance with Directive 2006/48/EC, an insurance undertaking authorised in accordance with Directive 73/239/EEC, an assurance undertaking authorised in accordance with Directive 2002/83/EC, a reinsurance undertaking authorised in accordance with Directive 2005/68/EC, a UCITS and, where relevant, its management company, authorised in accordance with Directive 2009/65/EC, an institution for occupational retirement provision within the meaning of Article 6(a) of Directive 2003/41/EC and an alternative investment fund managed by AIFMs authorised or registered in accordance with Directive 2011/61/EU; Index: Click ᐅ to expand: EMIR Navigation: European Market Infrastructure Regulation 648/2012 (EUR Lex) | uncleared margin regulation | clearing thresholds | non-financial counterparty Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

The EU’s EMIR regulation — which deals with unglamorous but important stuff like trade reporting, mandatory clearing of derivatives, regulation of central counterparties and regulatory margin, and makes a big fuss about whether one is a “financial counterparty”, and therefore automatically in scope for the full horror of European infrastructure regulation, or not, in which case your scoping will have to do with how often, in your daily travels, you interact with the regulated bits of the financial system. In a nutshell the following are financial counterparties:

• a MiFID investment firm
• a credit institution authorised under the Capital Requirements Directive
• an EU-regulated insurer, assurer, reinsurer;
• a UCITS and its management company;
• An EU-regulated pension fund; and
• An AIF and its AIFM

Which means a number of potentially important entities will not be. For example:

• Ordinary corporates — your Vodafones, Apples and, Volkswagens, who will generally be clients
• Commodity traders who are not active in regulated financial markets
• any espievies that are not specifically set up as investment funds — so repackaging SPVs, securitisation vehicles — that kind of thing.

See also

• Non-financial counterparty