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ESAs propose amendments to bilateral margin framework
04 August 2026 Europe
Image: Gambar_Upi/stock.adobe.com
The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) have published a final report on draft regulatory technical standards, proposing to simplify the bilateral margin requirements of the European Commission’s Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/2251.
The proposed amendments aim to simplify the bilateral margin framework for counterparties that are subject to initial margin (IM) requirements and that are below the €8 billion threshold for exchanging initial margin under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
According to the ESAs, the changes aim to facilitate the phase-out of IM requirements for these counterparties, and support greater consistency with the treatment applied in other jurisdictions.
In the current framework, counterparties that are below the threshold are exempt from exchanging IM for new uncleared OTC derivative contracts but continue to exchange IM for existing contracts.
With the proposed amendments, counterparties would no longer be required to exchange IM for either new or existing contracts if they are below the threshold.
The amendments respond to requests from market participants and support the ESAs' broader objectives of simplification and burden reduction.
The final report has been submitted to the European Commission together with the draft RTS for endorsement.
Following the Commission's review and adoption process, the RTS will be subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council before being published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
The proposed amendments aim to simplify the bilateral margin framework for counterparties that are subject to initial margin (IM) requirements and that are below the €8 billion threshold for exchanging initial margin under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
According to the ESAs, the changes aim to facilitate the phase-out of IM requirements for these counterparties, and support greater consistency with the treatment applied in other jurisdictions.
In the current framework, counterparties that are below the threshold are exempt from exchanging IM for new uncleared OTC derivative contracts but continue to exchange IM for existing contracts.
With the proposed amendments, counterparties would no longer be required to exchange IM for either new or existing contracts if they are below the threshold.
The amendments respond to requests from market participants and support the ESAs' broader objectives of simplification and burden reduction.
The final report has been submitted to the European Commission together with the draft RTS for endorsement.
Following the Commission's review and adoption process, the RTS will be subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council before being published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
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