On May 24, the European Parliament announced the result of the vote of the Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) on the proposed European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

The draft regulation (which covers over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, central clearing parties (CCPs) and trade repositories) "aims to bring greater safety, transparency and stability to the OTC derivatives market."

Under the proposal, many OTC derivative contracts will need to be cleared through central counterparties (CCPs), market participants will be required to report information on OTC derivative contracts to trade repositories (these reports will be accessible to supervisory authorities) and a key supervisory role is envisaged for the new European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).