EU: Suspension of the derivatives trading obligation under MiFIR for specific banks 

 

Article 32a of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 (MiFIR) empowers the Commission to suspend the derivative trading obligation for specific financial counterparties through an implementing act, following a request from a Member State’s competent authority and subject to certain conditions. In this case, the Commission received and approved such requests from two authorities and has therefore prepared a draft implementing act suspending the obligation for four financial counterparties. 

Under Article 28 of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014, financial and certain non-financial counterparties subject to the clearing obligation under Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (EMIR) must execute trades in derivatives subject to the trading obligation only on regulated markets, multilateral trading facilities (MTFs), organised trading facilities (OTFs), or on third-country venues recognised as equivalent. This requirement effectively prohibits trading those derivatives on non-equivalent third-country venues. Regulation (EU) 2024/791 introduced Article 32a, allowing for targeted suspensions of this obligation under defined conditions. 

On 8 November 2024, the Commission received a request from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) to suspend the obligation for three entities under its supervision: BNP Paribas SA, Société Générale SA, and Crédit Agricole CIB. 

On 14 March 2025, a similar request was submitted by the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) for Deutsche Bank AG. 

As a result, the Commission decided to suspend the derivative trading obligation for the following counterparties: BNP Paribas SA, Crédit Agricole CIB, Deutsche Bank AG, and Société Générale SA. The suspension applies specifically to trading activities on the United Kingdom market.