What is the EU benchmarks regulation?
The EU Benchmarks Regulation (EU BMR) will come into effect from January 2020, introducing a common framework and consistent approach across the European Union (EU). It aims to ensure benchmarks are robust, reliable, and administered without conflicts of interest.
An index becomes a benchmark within the scope of the EU BMR where:
- it is used to determine the amount payable under a financial instrument or financial contract, or the value of a financial instrument
- it is used to measure the performance of an investment fund for the purpose of tracking the return, defining the asset allocation, portfolio or computing performance fees
From January 2020, benchmark users in the EU will need to ensure that they only use benchmarks issued by authorised administrators captured on the European regulator’s register. They will also need to demonstrate adequate provisions are in place to account for a benchmark being discontinued or significantly altered in the future.
How our EU benchmarks solution helps you meet your regulatory requirements
Refinitiv offers an inventory file which contains the full live universe of benchmark RICs identified as compliant with EU benchmarks regulation. This comprises 24 supporting fields including RIC, Perm ID, BMR Compliance and associated administrator details.
There is full integration of the EU benchmarks inventory data within Refinitiv’s DataScope products, which also incorporates functionality to flag OTC and exchange-traded derivatives contracts that have a regulated benchmark as an underlying.