On June 2, 2016, the European Commission adopted a Delegated Regulation on RTS setting out the standards for non- discriminatory access for central counterparties and trading venues to licenses of, and information relating to, benchmarks. The Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation provides for such access so as to allow for the determination by a CCP or trading venue of the value of certain financial instruments for trading and clearing purposes. The adopted RTS provide the list of information to be provided by a benchmark owner to a trading venue or CCP requesting access. The information requested must be necessary for the CCP or trading venue to perform its clearing or trading function. The adopted RTS provide that, for trading venues, those functions are, at least: (i) an initial assessment of the characteristic of the benchmark, (ii) the marketing of the relevant product and (iii) the support of the price information process for contracts admitted or being admitted to trading. For CCPs, the relevant functions are (i) risk management of relevant open positions in exchange-traded derivatives, including netting, and (ii) compliance with the requirements under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation. The adopted RTS also set out the price and data feed information to be provided as well as the composition, methodology and pricing information required to allow a CCP or trading venue to understand how each benchmark value is created and the actual benchmark values.
The information is to be provided to CCPs and trading venues through licensing on the same timescales and under the same conditions, unless different conditions are justifiable, according to conditions set by a benchmark owner. The conditions must include, amongst others, the scope of use and content of information, the conditions for redistribution and the governing law and allocation of liabilities.
The adopted RTS also establish the standards by which a benchmark will be judged to be new and therefore able to benefit from transitory arrangements.
The adopted RTS are subject to consideration by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Once final, the adopted RTS will apply directly across the EU from January 3, 2019.
The adopted RTS is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/3/2016/EN/3-2016-3203-EN-F1-1.PDF.
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