Your LEI number for reporting according to EMIR, must be updated every year. Remember to renew.
EMIR - European Regulation of the Market of Derivatives
EMIR applies to companies (legal entities) trading derivatives through requirements on reporting, clearing and certain risk mitigation techniques.
The European regulation for derivatives (EMIR) applies to companies trading derivatives through requirements on reporting, clearing and certain risk mitigation techniques.
EMIR entered into force in Norway on 1 July 2017 and was updated on 17 June 2019
European regulation of the market for derivatives
EMIR applies to companies (legal entities) trading derivatives through requirements on reporting, clearing and certain risk mitigation techniques. EMIR does not apply to natural persons and governmental or supranational organisations.
EMIR consists of the following parts:
- Counterparty Classification
- Risk Mitigation Techniques
- Transaction Reporting to a Trade Repository
- Clearing and Collateral
- Counterparty Classification
EMIR requires that counterparties to derivative contracts are classified as Financial Counterparties (FC) or Non-Financial Counterparties (NFC). Each legal entity is responsible for defining which category is applicable.
EMIR is integrated into Norwegian legislation
In short, EMIR mandates reporting, clearing and requirements for the implementation of certain risk-reducing measures for all companies trading in derivatives. In order for reporting to take place, all companies trading derivatives in Norway must have a LEI (Legal Entity Identifier).
Facts about EMIR
The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) has been effective in the EU since 2012. DNB Bank ASA is a Norwegian entity, and Norway is part of the EEA, where EMIR was made effective on July 1, 2017. In 2019, EU made certain amendments to the regulation, called EMIR Refit, effective from June 17, 2019.
EMIR requires that counterparties to derivative contracts are classified as Financial Counterparties (FC) or Non-Financial Counterparties (NFC)
Financial Counterparties (FC)
Examples of Financial Counterparties (FC) are banks, credit institutions, insurance undertakings, assurance undertakings, reinsurance undertakings, UCITS funds, alternative investment funds, pension funds, fund managers and investment firms.
Since the introduction of EMIR Refit in June 2019, Financial Counterparties shall also be differentiated between counterparties over any applicable clearing threshold (FC+) and those below any such threshold, called small financial counterparties (FC-). This differentiation only affects the clearing obligation.
Non-Financial Counterparties (NFC)
Entities outside the FC category are Non-Financial Counterparty (NFC). This category into NFC+ or NFC-, depending on whether they are above or below a Clearing Threshold. The Clearing Threshold is an amount set by class of OTC derivative contracts. The clearing threshold depends on the sum of outstanding gross notional amounts of each asset class. The threshold is either EUR 1 billion or EUR 3 billion per asset class, but derivatives used for hedging purposes may be excluded. Hence, only very large companies will be NFC+.
In general FCs are more regulated than NFCs.
Risk Mitigation Techniques
EMIR sets out the following requirements for reducing risk:
- Timely Confirmations
- Portfolio Reconciliation and a bilateral agreement on how to resolve disputes
- Portfolio Compression for counterparties with a high number of contracts
Confirmations
For confirmations specific requirements define when a contract should be confirmed, depending on the counterparties’ classification. With DNB contracts are normally agreed by telephone or through dnb.no. When entering into the contracts, misunderstandings or errors may occur. Errors, in particular in volatile markets, may lead to considerable losses. In order to correct errors as soon as possible, our clients are obliged to control confirmations immediately upon receipt and notify the relevant entity in DNB as quickly as possible if anything in the confirmation conflicts with the trade agreed to. Accordingly, clients are obliged to notify us if they have not received a confirmation after a contract has been entered into.
Compliance
To be compliant with Portfolio Reconciliation requirements DNB will send further information to our clients about this. The reconciliation process will normally start by DNB sending the counterparty a report with an overview of outstanding contracts. The client is obliged to notify DNB of any material discrepancies (by e-mail to emir-reconciliation@dnb.no).
Requirements for Portfolio Compression apply to counterparties with more than 500 derivative contracts outstanding with us. Affected clients will be contacted with more detailed information.
Clearing and collateral - relevant for FC and NFC+
For FC+ and NFC+ there are and/or will be requirements on clearing through a central counterparty (CCP).
Uncleared derivative contracts with such counterparties, and FC-, will be subject to requirements of financial collateral (variation margin). DNB will contact relevant clients with more information about clearing and variation margin.
More information may be provided by DNB Markets:
Transaction Reporting to a Trade Repository
EMIR demands that details on each transaction are reported to an authorised Trade Repository. Financial Supervisors in each EU/EEA-country will be given access to information about trades done by entities in their jurisdiction. In Norway, Finanstilsynet is the relevant supervisor. Both parties to a contract are obliged to report, but reporting may be delegated to the other party or a third party. Any derivative should be reported, whether traded OTC or on an Exchange.
Following EMIR Refit, DNB is from June 18, 2020 obligated to, and will, report for any client classified NFC-, unless this client has explicitly told us otherwise or we are lacking certain necessary information about the client.
DNB reports transactions to DTCC. DNB offers to report on behalf of our clients where we are part to the contract and where we have received any information needed from the client. If the client wishes to control what we have reported, it will have to onboard with DTCC, on their terms (costs and charges apply), cfr this external link.
LEI (Legal Entity Identifier) is a global standard for unique identification of a legal entity. LEI is a requirement for transaction reporting and since 2018 a requirement to trade.
LEI-providers
LEI may be provided by several units*, including, but not limited to, the following:
*DNB is not a provider of LEI. DNB Bank ASA's LEI-no: 549300GKFG0RYRRQ1414