The Council has agreed its negotiating mandate on a proposal concerning the scope of the rules for benchmarks, the use in the EU of benchmarks provided by an administrator located in a third country, and certain reporting requirements.

An updated public statement has been published.

Regulation 2 reintroduces a “discount factor” which was unintentionally removed from CRR in both the UK and the EU.  Regulation 3 amends the Benchmarks Regulation to extend the transitional period for the third country benchmarks regime from 31 December 2025 to 31 December 2030.  (Dates in force: 20 December 2023/1 January 2024)

ESMA has updated its Q&A document.

ESMA’s report on sanctions imposed under the Benchmarks Regulation in 2022 notes that one administrative sanction and one administrative measure were imposed on, respectively, a supervised entity (user of benchmarks) and a supervised contributor by two national competent authorities for two infringements of the Benchmarks Regulation.  No criminal sanctions were imposed in 2022.

ESMA has announced the launch of a common supervisory action with national competent authorities on ESG disclosures under the Benchmarks Regulation.

Regulation 2 reintroduces a “discount factor” which was unintentionally removed from CRR in both the UK and the EU.  Regulation 3 amends the Benchmarks Regulation to extend the transitional period for the third country benchmarks regime from 31 December 2025 to 31 December 2030.

HMT has published a statement to explain the Government’s rationale for extending the transitional period for third country benchmarks under the UK Benchmarks Regulation to 31 December 2030.  A draft SI (The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Benchmarks and Capital Requirements) (Amendment) Regulations 2023) has also been published – second link below.

FCA has now published a transcript of the meeting held in October 2023.  Topics include: the Consumer Duty; investment scams; insurance and leaseholders; motor insurance; complaints handling; FSCS and compensation; whistleblowers; the transparency of FCA; regulatory capture; FCA and AI; LIBOR; FCA and the forthcoming NAO study; the marketing of equity release products; fair value on retail savings; financial promotions.

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 Benchmarks Regulation has been published in the Official Journal.