The European Parliament adopted the draft legislation on OTC derivatives previously agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators. Under the new rules, OTC derivative contracts would have to be cleared through central counterparties (CCPs), thus reducing counterparty credit risk, i.e. the risk that one party to the contract may default.

MEPs gave in plenary session their green light to the draft legislation to make trade over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives safer and more transparent. In particular, the regulation lays down that OTC derivative contracts would have to be cleared through central counterparties (CCPs) and the work of trade repositories would be monitored by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which would be responsible for granting or withdrawing their registration. The vote followed an agreement previously reached by the Parliament and Council negotiators on 9 of February.

Besides a stronger role for ESMA, MEPs also secured a requirement that all derivative contracts (not only OTC derivatives), would have to be reported to central data centres or "trade repositories", which would have to publish aggregate positions by class of derivatives, thereby offering market players a clearer view of the market.

The regulation will enter into force 20 days after being published in the Official Journal of the EU. The new legislation will put into effect commitments given in Pittsburgh in September 2009 by G-20 leaders. That was about one year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a major player in the OTC derivatives market. The OTC derivatives market, which was valued at around €425 trillion in 2009, and derivatives' trading is widely believed to have contributed to the global financial crisis.