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In this act Article 14 of 42
Text as of 14 Feb 2023 · Consolidated version of 14 February 2023 · Same wording as today’s text.Today’s text

Article 14 — General requirements

Financial servicesLevel 2RTSEMIRIn forceOfficial source

14(1)

1.Where a counterparty uses an initial margin model, that model may be developed by any of, or both, counterparties or by a third-party agent.

Where a counterparty uses an initial margin model developed by a third-party agent, the counterparty shall remain responsible for ensuring that that model complies with the requirements referred to in this Section.

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14(2)

2.Initial margin models shall be developed in a way that captures all the significant risks arising from entering into the non-centrally cleared OTC derivative contracts included in the netting set, including the nature, scale, and complexity of those risks and shall meet the following requirements:

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14(2)(a)
(a)the model incorporates risk factors corresponding to the individual currencies in which those contracts in the netting set are denominated;
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14(2)(b)
(b)the model incorporates interest rate risk factors corresponding to the individual currencies in which those contracts are denominated;
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14(2)(c)
(c)the yield curve is divided into a minimum of six maturity buckets for exposures to interest-rate risk in the major currencies and markets;
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14(2)(d)
(d)the model captures the risk of movements between different yield curves and between different maturity buckets;
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14(2)(e)
(e)the model incorporates separate risk factors at least for each equity, equity index, commodity or commodity index which is significant for those contracts;
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14(2)(f)
(f)the model captures the risk arising from less liquid positions and positions with limited price transparency within realistic market scenarios;
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14(2)(g)
(g)the model captures the risk, otherwise not captured by other features of the model, arising from derivative contracts where the underlying asset class is credit;
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14(2)(h)
(h)the model captures the risk of movements between similar, but not identical, underlying risk factors and the exposure to changes in values arising from maturity mismatches;
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14(2)(i)
(i)the model captures main non-linear dependencies;
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14(2)(j)
(j)the model incorporates methodologies used for back-testing which include statistical tests of the model's performance;
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14(2)(k)
(k)the model determines which events trigger a model change, calibration or other remedial action.
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14(3)

3.The risk management procedures referred to in Article 2(1) shall ensure that the performance of the model is monitored on a continuous basis including by back-testing the model at least every 3 months.

For the purposes of the first subparagraph, back testing shall include a comparison between the values produced by the model and the realised market values of the non-centrally cleared OTC derivative contracts in the netting set.

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14(4)

4.The risk management procedures referred to in Article 2(1) shall outline the methodologies used for undertaking back-testing, including statistical tests of performance.

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14(5)

5.The risk management procedures referred to in Article 2(1) shall describe what results of the back-testing would lead to a model change, recalibration or other remediation action.

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14(6)

6.The risk management procedures referred to in Article 2(1) shall ensure that counterparties retain records of the results of the back-testing referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article.

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14(7)

7.Counterparties shall provide all the information necessary to explain the calculation of a given value of the initial margin model to the other counterparty in a way that a knowledgeable third party would be able to verify that calculation.

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14(8)

8.The initial margin model shall reflect parameter uncertainty, correlation, basis risk and data quality in a prudent manner.

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