The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Union’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, this week launched a consultation on new annual reporting rules aimed at giving regulators a clearer picture of the risks EU firms face when clearing transactions through recognised third-country central counterparties.

The proposed framework would require clearing members and clients using recognised third-country CCPs to provide information on their clearing activity under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).

Central counterparties, commonly known as CCPs or clearing houses, sit between buyers and sellers in financial markets, effectively becoming the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer.

This arrangement helps reduce the risk that one party’s failure could cause losses to others, but it also means that large exposures to a CCP can become an important issue for financial regulators.

ESMA said the proposed reporting framework was intended to give supervisory authorities a structured and consistent view of the scale, characteristics and risk profile of EU firms’ exposures to recognised CCPs based outside the EU.

The initiative forms part of the broader supervisory framework established under EMIR 3, the latest set of EU rules strengthening oversight of clearing and derivatives markets.

The consultation paper contains ESMA’s proposed Regulatory Technical Standards and Implementing Technical Standards under EMIR.

Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) provide detailed rules on how legislation should be applied, while Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) set out more practical requirements such as reporting procedures and formats.

The proposed rules would therefore determine both what information firms must report and how that information should be submitted.

ESMA said the framework should help authorities assess how much clearing activity EU firms conduct through recognised third-country CCPs and identify the associated risks.

The reporting requirement would cover both clearing members, which directly participate in a CCP, and clients that use a clearing member to access its services.

The proposed approach also reflects ESMA’s wider effort to simplify regulatory reporting and reduce compliance burdens on financial firms.

Rather than requiring firms to submit information that regulators already receive elsewhere, ESMA said it intends to make maximum use of data available through existing reporting channels.

New reporting requirements would therefore be limited to information that is not already available to ESMA or national competent authorities.

The aim is to avoid unnecessary duplication while still giving supervisors the additional information they need to monitor risks arising from clearing activity outside the EU.

Once implemented, the framework would create a harmonised approach to reporting clearing activity at recognised third-country CCPs, replacing what could otherwise be differing approaches to information gathering.

ESMA is now inviting stakeholders, including market participants and other interested parties, to submit feedback on the proposed reporting framework, templates and reporting format.

The deadline for responses is October 12, 2026, the association confirmed.

Following the consultation, ESMA said it would assess the feedback received before preparing a Final Report.

The proposed framework is part of the EU’s wider effort to strengthen oversight of financial market infrastructure and ensure supervisors have a clearer understanding of where European firms could be exposed to risks arising outside the bloc.