The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding cooperation arrangements for the access to information on derivatives contracts held in trade repositories registered in accordance with directives laid out by the European Parliament on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories.
This follows a similar course of action taken by ASIC in the summer of this year, when it entered into an MOU with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) along similar lines.
The purpose of the MOU is to enable ASIC to have direct access to information on derivatives contracts held in European Union trade repositories that it needs to fulfil its responsibilities and mandates while ensuring that guaranteees of professional secrecy exist including protection of business secrets shared by ASIC with third parties.
The MOU is a statement of intent between ASIC and ESMA and is not legally binding, however serves to indicate the further progress made by national and continental regulators in order to ensure cross-border standardization of regulatory structures.
The full document from ESMA can be read by clicking here.