Principles for financial market infrastructures – New consultative report published

The BIS’ Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) has just published, in conjunction with the Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), a new consultative report on financial market infrastructures.

The report “Principles for financial market infrastructures” contains new and more demanding international standards for payment, clearing and settlement systems. Issued for public consultation by the CPSS and, the new standards (called "principles") are designed to ensure that the essential infrastructure supporting global financial markets is even more robust and thus even better placed to withstand financial shocks than at present.

The report contains a single, comprehensive set of 24 principles designed to apply to all systemically important payment systems, central securities depositories, securities settlement systems, central counterparties and trade repositories (collectively "financial market infrastructures" or "FMIs"). These FMIs collectively record, clear and settle transactions in financial markets.

When finalized, the new principles will replace the three existing sets of CPSS and CPSS-IOSCO standards,

• the Core Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems (2001)
• the Recommendations for Securities Settlement Systems (2001), and 
• the Recommendations for Central Counterparties (2004).

The CPSS and IOSCO believe that a single set of principles will provide greater consistency in the oversight and regulation of FMIs worldwide.

Robust and efficient FMIs help to ensure that markets continue to function effectively even in times of crisis and are an essential prerequisite for financial stability. Although FMIs have generally performed well, there are nevertheless lessons to be learnt both from the recent crisis and from the years of more normal operation since the current standards were issued.

Compared with the current standards, the new principles introduce more demanding requirements in many important areas including;

• the financial resources and risk management procedures an FMI uses to cope with the default of participants
• the mitigation of operational risk, and
• the links and other interdependencies between FMIs through which operational and financial risks can spread.

There are also principles covering issues that are not fully addressed by the existing standards. These include new principles on segregation and portability, tiered participation and general business risk.

Published along with the report is a cover note which sets out some specific issues on which the committees are seeking comments during the public consultation period.

Comments on the principles have been invited from all interested parties and should be sent by no later than 29 July 2011 to both the CPSS secretariat (cpss@bis.org) and the IOSCO secretariat (fmi@iosco.org). The comments will be published on the websites of the BIS and IOSCO unless commentators request otherwise.

After the consultation period, the CPSS and IOSCO will review all comments received and publish a final report in early 2012. As set out in the cover note, the proposal is that relevant authorities will then strive to include the principles in their legal and regulatory framework by the end of 2012 and to apply the principles as part of their regulatory, supervisory and oversight activities as soon as possible. FMIs will be expected to take appropriate and swift action in order to meet the principles.

The consultative report as well as the covering note may be downloaded from the BIS website - http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss94.htm