The Risk-Based Regulation Approach : The Case of the UK Regime of Central Counterparties in the OTC Derivatives Market

The paper addresses the question of whether risk-based regulation is an efficient approach to the regime of Central Counterparties (CCPs) in the OTC derivatives market. The discussions below will first attempt to throw some light on the way risk-based regulation operates. They highlight the benefits, limits and complexities tied to the adoption of this approach to regulation. The core of the study in this paper is the analysis concerning the parameters that risk-based regulation offers to assess the current regime of Central Counterparties in the OTC derivatives market in the UK. The paper explores the UK risk-based model of regulation and supervision governing OTC derivatives. It is specifically focused on prudential supervision and conduct of business rules governing OTC derivatives transactions and the increasing tendency to use Central Counterparties CCPs. Additionally, this study will identify and assess the risks to the regulator's objectives that are posed by the Central Counterparties CCPs, and to address those using various regulatory tools. Different models of regulation could be considered to analyse the new UK approach. However, this research uses the risk-based regulation -- adopted in the UK -- as a method of analysis of the OTC derivatives regulatory structure. The reason is that risk-based regulation is broad and feasible enough in the time framework of this research. Furthermore, this method is interesting, because it exposes the reality that there might be a limit on the resources that can be spent on controlling certain types of risk. In addition, the method allows analysis of how the studied regime is satisfying expectations regarding transparency and accountability.It is particularly interesting to use the risk-based regulation approach to analyse the UK regulation of CCPs. Indeed, a general concern after the Global Financial Crisis was that risk-based regulation tends to be operated in a manner that places too much emphasis on individual sites and that, as a result, this approach is slow to come to terms with systemic and cumulative risks. Therefore, this discussion leads to question the emphasis that has been placed on the regulation on CCPs in the UK. Is the risk-based regulation the approach assisting regulator in the effective management of systemic risk in the OTC derivatives market? Does it need to be complemented with other strategies of regulation?