The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published a statement confirming its approach to supervising commodity derivatives position limits. The statement follows the FCA’s Supervisory Statement on the operation of the Markets in Financial Instruments regime after the end of the EU withdrawal period published in December 2020 in which the regulator stated that until January 1, 2022, it would not take any supervisory or enforcement action for positions that exceed limits where the position is held by a liquidity provider to fulfill its obligations on a trading venue. In its latest statement, the FCA confirms that it will extend that approach pending the outcome of HM Treasury’s Wholesale Market Review and subject to any indications of market abuse arising. The FCA states that firms should make their own assessment of whether the positions they take are positions resulting from their actions as a liquidity provider. Firms do not need to report their assessments to the FCA; however, a firm may need to explain an assessment to the FCA on request.
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