ESMA consults on guarantees as CCP collateral and on certain aspects of CCP investment policy

ESMA is encouraging all interested stakeholders, including non-financial counterparties (NFCs), to share their views about:

• the relevant conditions under which public guarantees, public bank guarantees and commercial bank guarantees may be accepted by central counterparties (CCPs) as collateral;
• the conditions under which debt instruments can be considered as eligible financial instruments for the purpose of CCP investment policy; and
• the highly secured arrangements in which emission allowances posted as margins or default fund contributions can be deposited.

EMIR 3 introduces several measures to make EU clearing services and EU CCPs more efficient, competitive and accessible. These include permanent broadening of both the type of guarantees that may be accepted by CCPs as eligible collateral and the scope of entities that may use them, now also covering clients of CCPs that are NFCs.

Next steps

The deadline for responses is 30 April 2026. Based on the responses received, ESMA will prepare the final report and submit the final draft technical standards to the European Commission by the end of 2026.

Further information:

Tayfun Yilmaz

Communications Officer
[email protected]