Skip to content

Council adopts EU benchmark regulation

On 17 May 2016, the Council adopted the EU Benchmark Regulation. The EU Commission first proposed to regulate benchmarks in July 2012, in reaction to LIBOR manipulation. The final text can be found here. The regulation will enter into force on the day following publication in the Official Journal and will apply 18 months after.

Parliament adopts EU benchmark regulation

On 28 April 2016, the European Parliament adopted the EU benchmark regulation in plenary session. The next step is the formal adoption by the Council, expected in May 2016 and the publication in the official journal. The provisional edition of the adopted text can be found here. [Update: the Council of the EU has published the final […]

Near-final EU benchmark regulation: transparency by statement

On 4 December 2015, the final compromise text of the EU benchmark regulation was released. The text already received approval from the Council and the European Parliament on 24 November 2015, and from the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER) on 9 December 2015. The next step is to submit the regulation to the European Parliament for […]

EU benchmark regulation tick mark

On 25 November 2015, the European Commission published a communiqué welcoming the agreement reached with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on the draft benchmark regulation. By bringing the regulation a step closer to a vote by the European Parliament, the uptick might revive concerns expressed by those who suggested the text went […]

When even benchmark waterfalls become a free fall

On 23 October 2015, the Financial Markets Law Committee (FMLC) published a letter highlighting certain issues with regard to the proposal[1] for EU regulation on benchmarks. It was well-known that the regulation would impose a heavy burden on benchmarks established outside the EU, as the United States has been very vocal about the initiative. With […]

FCA finds oversights in benchmark oversight

On 29 July 2015, the FCA published the Financial Benchmarks: Thematic review of oversight and controls. Based on a sample of 14 banks and broking firms, the review exposes the uneven development of internal processes in relation to benchmarks. Good, bad and ugly practices are presented for a wide range of benchmark-related activities[1]. The broad […]

FICC: no one reg to rule them all, but a Board?

On 10 June 2015, the Fair and Effective Markets Review (“FEMR”) published its Final Report on the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (“FICC”) markets. The Review was launched in June 2014 to cover the following areas: ·         Trading practices ·         Scope of regulation ·         Impact of recent and forthcoming regulation ·         Supervision As an interim […]

T. Massad- déjà vu

In his keynote address before the Institute of International Bankers, CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad yesterday revisited some familiar themes. Under his leadership, the “new” CFTC cannot be accused of a lack of consistency. It is nevertheless a useful recap of the CFTC’s priorities as they begin the task of “fine-tuning” the discordant Dodd-Frank orchestra. A […]

A glimpse of the 2015 EU benchmark regulation

The European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) published its draft report on the proposed benchmark regulation, dated 11 December 2014. The report contains 247 amendments to the proposal[1], illustrating the large amount of work that still needs to be done in 2015 before the regulation is adopted. ECON shows progress on the […]

A way for non-EU benchmarks to keep a toehold in the EU?

The Presidency of the Council of the EU published the last compromise proposal for regulation of benchmarks, dated 21 November 2014. On that same day, the chairman of the CFTC criticised the EU benchmark initiative as it left no viable space to foreign benchmarks within the EU. Yet, from a version to another, the series […]

Press enter or esc to cancel