On April 1, the European Commission (EC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) published a joint media release announcing their concurrent adoption of equivalence decision for certain trading venues in the European Union and Singapore.

The decision will allow EU investment banks to operate as swaps dealers in Asia when executing derivatives with counterparties in Singapore, while complying with the EU trading obligations under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) and the G20 reforms for standardized derivatives. Singaporean participants also will be able to trade with EU counterparties on EU multilateral and organized trading facilities in compliance with Singapore’s derivatives trading obligations.

The decision follows the agreement jointly announced on February 20 by the EC and the MAS regarding their common approach on certain derivatives trading platforms, the aim of which is to connect the two markets to boost liquidity and to help firms hedge their exposure to currency risks. It also follows a similar decision made between the MAS and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission made on March 13, as reported in the March 15, 2019 edition of the Corporate & Financial Weekly Digest.

The decision takes the form of an implementing act, which goes into effect on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The EC’s and MAS’ joint media release is available here.

The implementing act is available here and its annex is available here.