UK Government Consults On Broadening The Benchmark Regulatory Perimeter

On September 25, 2014, the UK Government launched a consultation on the first set of recommendations from the Fair and Effective Markets Review, which recommended that additional major financial benchmarks should be brought into the regulatory framework for benchmark administrators. The Fair and Effective Markets Review is led by the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") and HM Treasury. The final report of the Review is due to be published in June 2015. The benchmarks proposed for inclusion in the UK regulatory perimeter are Sterling Overnight Index Average, Repurchase Overnight Index Average, WM/Reuters' FX benchmark rates, ISDAFix, ICE Brent Futures, LBMA Silver Price and the London Gold Fix. There are three criteria for benchmarks to be included in the UK regime, which are: (i) the benchmark must be a major benchmark, which means that it is one that has the greatest...