DFSA signs MoU with ESMA

The Dubai Financial Services Authority, DFSA, and the European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA, have entered into information sharing and cooperation arrangements regarding DIFC based central counterparties, CCPs, compliance with conditions set out in The European Union’s Market Infrastructure Regulation, EMIR.

The Memorandum was signed on behalf of the DFSA by chief executive Ian Johnston, and by the chairman of ESMA, Stephen Maijoor, in Milan last month.

It follows a decision published in mid-December 2016 by the European Commission, which found the DFSA’s regulatory framework for CCPs as equivalent to that of the European Union. The European Commission’s decision also confirmed that the DFSA’s framework is compliant with international standards set out under the International Organisation of Securities Commissions’, IOSCO, Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures.

Johnston said, “Today’s signing signals a new phase in the good relationship between the DFSA and ESMA and enables us to cooperate and exchange information in connection with monitoring of DIFC-based CCPs.

“The DFSA has always placed a high priority on cooperation and its ability to share information and assist fellow regulators, particularly where the DIFC firms have strong links with the European Union market participants,” he added.

This MoU marks the 100th to be signed by the DFSA and its second with ESMA. The first MoU between the two regulators was signed in 2013 on cooperation in relation to credit rating agencies. The DFSA also has MoUs in place with counterparts in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and with most other European Union securities regulators concerning multilateral arrangements.