Financial market infrastructure supervision

In this section

What are FMIs?

Financial market infrastructures (FMIs) allow the clearing, settlement, and recording of financial transactions. They enable millions of transactions to take place each day. Find out more in our short guide.

We supervise certain types of FMIs. These are:

• payment systems recognised by HM Treasury
• central securities depositories
• central counterparties (CCPs)

Why we supervise FMIs

Our role is to protect and enhance financial stability in the UK. We supervise FMIs because they are a vital part of the UK’s financial system and its wider economy.

For example, payment systems are entities that allow funds to be transferred between, for example, businesses and individuals, and from business-to-business and individual-to-individual. They are used for many day to day transactions. CSDs keep ownership records of individual securities and facilitate the secure transfer of these securities between people or entities. CCPs sit between buyers and sellers of financial contracts so that both parties hold a contract with the CCP rather than with each other. This ensures that the obligations of a trade can be fulfilled if one party fails so reducing counterparty credit risk