The corporate regulator said the granting of the ADTR licence follows a process undertaken by ASIC and DDRS in the past few months to ensure that DDRS complies fully with Australian standards for trade repository licensees while remaining subject to day-to-day oversight by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
ASIC commissioner Cathie Armour said the ADTR licence is the first of its kind granted by ASIC and is a key step in ASIC's implementation of mandatory trade reporting requirements for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.
‘The licensing of DDRS represents a milestone in Australia's implementation of our Group of Twenty (G20) OTC derivatives commitments and ensures that Australian businesses subject to trade reporting obligations can report to a foreign trade repository which is licensed and supervised by ASIC,” she said.
She also said the licensing of a trade repository in Australia that is already licensed and operating in Singapore demonstrates “ASIC's commitment to accepting equivalent foreign regulatory regimes where possible”.
“This, together with the alternative reporting arrangements in our trade reporting regime, avoids cross-border duplicate reporting obligations and trade repository supervision where possible,” she said.
DTCC head of Asia Peter Tierney said the licence consolidates the role of DDRS in Australia where it has provided derivatives reporting services both on a prescribed basis and through its European subsidiary since 2013.
“This local licence transitions reporting to our Asian entity and supports the 1 October 2014 commencement of phase one and phase two obligations under ASIC’s trade reporting regime,” said Mr Tierney.
The cooperation between ASIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Mr Tierney said, is evidence of increased cross-border regulatory collaboration, essential for “the efficient expansion of a global initiative of this type”.
ASIC also noted that major entities with $5 billion or more gross notional outstanding OTC derivative positions will need to report interest rate and credit derivatives by 13 April 2015 and Equity, FX and commodity derivatives by 12 October 2015.
