Joint industry call to relieve cash liquidity pressure on market participants by extending eligible non-cash collateral 

  • In the context of addressing the energy crisis at EU and national levels, EFET, EACH, Eurelectric, Eurogas and Europex (the Associations) welcome the opportunity offered by the various emergency intervention proposals to underline the need to support well-functioning energy futures markets.
  • The Associations further express their full support to the adopted schemes at national levels and proposed measures at EU level to enable market participants to find the collateral to meet margin calls in financial energy markets.
  • We urge EU authorities to provide an exceptional framework allowing CCPs to receive as collateral:
    • (i) the posting of fully committed on demand bank guarantees (in the sense of non-fully backed, unconditional and irrevocable on demand bank guarantees) issued in the favour of energy market participants; and 
    • (ii) emission allowances or other accredited instruments, in order to immediately relieve the cash liquidity pressure.
  • High and volatile wholesale energy prices continue to create significant cash liquidity pressure for energy market participants due to their impact on margin requirements on exchanges.
  • The current situation is deteriorating and constraining participation in trading on exchanges, hindering the functioning of EU energy markets. 

Please find our detailed position paper attached: