European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) could be completed as early as the last week in January after recent progress, sources familiar with the matter told Financial News.

The regulatory regime is intended to require most over the counter (OTC) derivatives trades to be cleared through central clearingparties (CCPs), according to the media outlet. This move is meant to lower counterparty risk by decreasing the chance of a participant in a contract not fulfilling their part of the deal.

The United Kingdom, France and Germany have failed to reach a consensus on how much oversight national regulators would have over CCPs in their jurisdictions, the media outlet reports. A meeting of the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council on January 26, finance ministers representing the various European Union nations arrived at an agreement on how much oversight the European Securities and Markets Authority will have over the clearing houses. The Brussels sources told the media outlet that the compromise will permit the council to create a final version of the text.

Previously, lobbyists in Brussels predicted that the EMIR rules would not be finalized until Denmark gained control of the European Union presidency later in 2012, according to The Financial Times.