Derivatives are not just important to banks and investors seeking risk management solutions and profits in the markets – these financial instruments are also key to agricultural producers, manufacturers, airlines and shipping companies, which employ derivatives risk management strategies to hedge against movements in the price of fuel and other commodities.

Major euro-zone firms like Rolls-Royce, Siemens and Lufthansa have been lobbying the European Commission, reports the Financial Times, for an exemption from a key component of the looming European Union derivatives reform. These firms want to be exempt from being forced to use clearinghouses, which help guarantee completion of derivatives transactions but also raise closing costs.

Brussels regulators, the FT reports, now say that clearing requirements ought to be ignored when the contracts "have been entered into to cover the risks arising from an objectively measurable commercial activity."

Similar exemptions exist in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, as regulators have been trying to parse companies which use derivatives for risk management from those that employ the instruments for investing and speculation.

As the FT reported, extra clearing costs had the potential to cost some firms tens of billions of euros.