European retail and institutional investors use European Union (EU) and third-country benchmarks for a variety of critical commercial purposes, from hedging their exposures to converting overseas revenue and repatriating funds. The EU Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) was intended to protect European investors from the risks and disruption posed by poorly run or failing benchmarks. Instead, fundamental flaws in its conception mean that without significant reform, the BMR could expose benchmark users in the EU to the threats that BMR was intended to protect them from, putting them at a competitive disadvantage to users of benchmarks in other jurisdictions.
In May 2022, the European Commission published its latest consultation on reforming the BMR. ISDA’s response is here.
To coincide with the consultation, ISDA, the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the Futures Industry Association, the Global Foreign Exchange Division of the Global Financial Markets Association, the European Association of Corporate Treasurers and EMTA published an updated version of their June 2020 recommendations, aimed at maintaining the intended protections of the BMR while reducing the potential for uncertainty, disruption and preventing EU investors being put at a competitive disadvantage versus non-EU entities.
Click on the attached PDF to read the full paper.
Documents (1) for Reforming the EU Benchmarks Regulation: Updated Recommendations
Latest
Response to FCA on Commodity Derivatives Clearing
On April 9, ISDA, the Commodity Markets Council Europe (CMCE), Energy Traders Europe (ETE) and FIA jointly responded to Chapter 7 of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Quarterly Consultation CP26/8 on increasing the clearing threshold for commodity derivatives under the UK...
Response on EC’s SFR Proposal
On April 9, ISDA published technical comments on the European Commission’s (EC) proposed Settlement Finality Regulation (SFR) as it applies to designated EU systems and registered third-country systems. One significant concern is that the scope of insolvency protections provided to...
Natixis CIB Adopts ISDA’s DRR
ISDA has announced that Natixis CIB has adopted ISDA’s Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) solution, enabling the bank to meet regulatory reporting requirements more efficiently and accurately. The ISDA DRR uses the Common Domain Model (CDM) – an open-source data standard...
Paper on MIFIR PTT
On April 7, ISDA, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the European Banking Federation (EBF) published a paper on proposals relating to post-trade transparency (PTT) under the Markets in Financial Instruments...