ESMA - European Securities and Markets Authority
ESMA - European Securities and Markets Authority
08/19/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/19/2022 03:08
ESMA proposes improvements to the EU regime of third country benchmarks
19 August 2022
Benchmarks
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's securities markets regulator, has today published its response to the European Commission's (Commission) consultation on the regime applicable to the use of benchmarks administered in a third country (TC). In its response, ESMA comments on the functioning of the current regime and proposes improvements to the regulatory and supervisory framework as well as the European Union (EU) benchmark labels.
The key highlights are:
- the restrictions on the use of TC benchmarks should be removed following a risk-based approach while ensuring a level playing field between EU and TC administrators;
- the proposal to create a new category of 'strategic' benchmarks is supported by ESMA; this category would be the only category of benchmarks subject to mandatory restrictions of use, similar to the current rules; and
- the introduction of an EU ESG benchmark label would be an extra supporting tool against greenwashing.
ESMA emphasises that while the Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) covers a wide range of benchmarks used in the EU, so far very few jurisdictions have followed a similar regulatory approach regarding the provision and use of benchmarks. Therefore, the wide scope of the BMR would lead to the undesirable outcome of limited availability of TC benchmarks to EU investors as opposed to their non-EU peers.
Next steps
The response has been submitted to the Commission. The Commission will prepare a report with recommendations on the effectiveness of the BMR to the European Parliament and Council.
Further information:
Dan Nacu-Manole
Communications Officer
✆ +33 (0)1 58 36 52 06