On 9 April 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a public statement intended to promote coordinated action by Member State national competent authorities (NCAs) regarding the timeliness of fulfilling external audit requirements for interest rate benchmark administrators and contributors to interest rate benchmarks.

ESMA states that, in coordination with NCAs, it expects NCAs not to prioritise supervisory actions against administrators and supervised contributors relating to the timeliness of fulfilling those audit requirements where the audits are carried out by 30 September 2020. In addition, ESMA encourages NCAs to generally apply a risk-based approach in the exercise of supervisory powers in their day-to-day enforcement of the Benchmarks Regulation in a proportionate manner concerning the timeliness of fulfilling those audit requirements.