The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its final technical advice to the European Commission regarding supervisory fees for trade repositories under the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR).

Trade repositories are electronic platforms that centrally collect and maintain the records of derivatives – in effect they keep a registry of key data regarding open, over-the-counter derivatives trades. This is important for improving the transparency of derivative markets and reducing risks to financial stability.

In order to ensure a level playing field across the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and SFTR, ESMA is proposing some changes to the way fees for trade repositories are calculated under EMIR.

ESMA's statement explains: “Trade repositories have to pay fees on specific administrative actions such as registration, extension of registration or recognition, and an annual fee for ongoing supervision which is proportionate to the level of turnover of the trade repositories. ESMA also advises to simplify the way of determining the turnover of trade repositories for the purposes of calculating the annual supervisory fees by including revenues only and excluding activity figures.”

The authority also proposes lower fees in the case of extension of registration under SFTR, or in the case of concurrent application under both regimes. ESMA has also proposed the calculation of fees for recognition of third country trade repositories and the reimbursement of the cost to NCAs in the case of delegation of tasks.