Article 37
Participation requirements
1.
A CCP shall establish, where relevant per type of product cleared, the categories of admissible clearing members and the admission criteria, upon the advice of the risk committee pursuant to Article 28(3). Such criteria shall be non-discriminatory, transparent and objective so as to ensure fair and open access to the CCP and shall ensure that clearing members have sufficient financial resources and operational capacity to meet the obligations arising from participation in a CCP. Criteria that restrict access shall be permitted only to the extent that their objective is to control the risk for the CCP. Without prejudice to interoperability arrangements under Title V or the conduct of the CCP’s investment policy in accordance with Article 47, the criteria shall ensure that CCPs or clearing houses cannot be clearing members, directly or indirectly, of the CCP.
1a.
A CCP shall accept non-financial counterparties as clearing members only if those non-financial counterparties are able to demonstrate how they intend to fulfil the margin requirements and default fund contributions, including in stressed market conditions.
The competent authority of a CCP that accepts non-financial counterparties as clearing members shall regularly review the arrangements established by the CCP to monitor that the condition under the first subparagraph is met. The CCP’s competent authority shall report on an annual basis to the college referred to in Article 18 on the products cleared by those non-financial counterparties, their overall exposure and any identified risks.
A non-financial counterparty acting as a clearing member of a CCP may provide client clearing services only to non-financial counterparties belonging to the same group as that non-financial counterparty and may keep accounts at the CCP only for assets and positions held for its own account or the account of those non-financial counterparties.
ESMA may issue an opinion or a recommendation on the appropriateness of such arrangements following an ad hoc peer review.
2.
A CCP shall ensure that the application of the criteria referred to in paragraph 1 is met on an ongoing basis and shall have timely access to the information relevant for such assessment. A CCP shall conduct, at least once a year, a comprehensive review of compliance with this Article by its clearing members.
The CCP shall inform the competent authority of any significant negative development regarding the risk profile of any of its clearing members determined in the context of the CCP’s assessment referred to in the first subparagraph or any other assessment with similar conclusion, including any increase in the risk that any of its clearing members brings to the CCP, which the CCP considers to have the potential of triggering a default procedure.
3.
Clearing members that clear transactions on behalf of their clients shall have the necessary additional financial resources and operational capacity to perform this activity. The CCP’s rules for clearing members shall allow it to gather relevant basic information to identify, monitor and manage relevant concentrations of risk relating to the provision of services to clients. Clearing members shall, upon request, inform the CCP about the criteria and arrangements they adopt to allow their clients to access the services of the CCP. Responsibility for ensuring that clients comply with their obligations shall remain with clearing members.
4.
A CCP shall have objective and transparent procedures for the suspension and orderly exit of clearing members that no longer meet the criteria referred to in paragraph 1.
5.
A CCP may only deny access to clearing members meeting the criteria referred to in paragraph 1 where duly justified in writing and based on a comprehensive risk analysis.
6.
A CCP may impose specific additional obligations on clearing members, such as the participation in auctions of a defaulting clearing member’s position. Such additional obligations shall be proportional to the risk brought by the clearing member and shall not restrict participation to certain categories of clearing members.
7.
ESMA, after consulting EBA and the ESCB, shall develop draft regulatory technical standards to further specify the elements to be considered when a CCP:
(a)
establishes its admission criteria referred to in paragraph 1;
(b)
assesses the ability of non-financial counterparties acting as clearing members to meet margin requirements and default fund contributions referred to in paragraph 1a.
When developing those draft regulatory technical standards, ESMA shall take into account:
(a)
the modalities and specificities through which non-financial counterparties might, or already do, access clearing services, including as direct clearing members in sponsored models;
(b)
the need to facilitate prudentially sound direct access of non-financial counterparties to CCP clearing services and activities;
(c)
the need to ensure proportionality;
(d)
the need to ensure an effective management of risks.
ESMA shall submit the draft regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph to the Commission by 25 December 2025.
Power is delegated to the Commission to supplement this Regulation by adopting the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph in accordance with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.