On 13 December 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued its latest Dear CEO letter to benchmark administrators.
The letter is the third such letter the FCA has issued to benchmark administrators and it reflects the FCA’s views on the key risks the regulator has identified in the portfolio, its expectations and a
On 22 October 2024, there was published on legislation.gov.uk The Critical Benchmarks Regulations 2024 together with an explanatory memorandum.
These Regulations come into force on 13 November 2024.
They specify two benchmarks, the WMR Closing Spot Rates (also commonly known in the market as the WMR London 4PM Closing Spot Rate or WMR 4PM
On 1 October 2024, the Bank of England (BoE), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates (Working Group) issued a statement highlighting that the remaining synthetic LIBOR settings were published for the last time on 30 September 2024 and LIBOR came to
On 3 June 2024, the FCA published a notice of first decision to the administrator of LIBOR, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA), under Article 21(3) of the UK Benchmarks Regulation. The notice is dated 17 May 2024. In the notice the FCA states that it has decided to exercise its power to compel
On 25 April 2024, the European Parliament issued a press release stating that it had adopted a first reading position on the proposed Regulation amending the Benchmarks Regulation as regards the scope of the rules for benchmarks, the use in the Union of benchmarks provided by an administrator located in a third country and certain
On 19 March 2024, the European Parliament published a report by the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) on the proposed Regulation amending the Benchmarks Regulation as regards the scope of the rules for benchmarks, the use in the Union of benchmarks provided by an administrator located in a third country, and
On 11 March 2024, the European Commission published a draft Delegated Regulation amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/805 as regards harmonisation of certain aspects of fees charged by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to certain benchmark administrators. The purpose of the draft Delegated Regulation is to bring the modalities of the calculation
The European Money Markets Institute (EMMI) has concluded its public consultation on proposed enhancements to the Euribor benchmark’s methodology, with support from industry participants. The consultation, which aimed to refine the Euribor hybrid methodology, received positive responses and provided insights into the future of the benchmark.
Industry support
On 7 November 2023, HM Treasury (HMT) published a policy paper on extending the transitional period for third country benchmarks under the UK Benchmarks Regulation.
The policy paper confirmed that the Government would be laying a statutory instrument extending the transitional period for third country benchmarks to 31 December 2030 by amending Article
On 23 October 2023, there was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2222 of 14 July 2023 extending the transitional period laid down for third-country benchmarks in Article 51(5) of the EU Benchmarks Regulation.
The Commission Delegated Regulation extends the transitional period by two years