ESMA updates Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) under the BMR

The draft RTS result from the ESAs Review, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2019/2175, that introduced changes to the BMR including a new mandate for ESMA to develop draft RTS. These contain additional detailed rules to implement the European regulatory framework aimed at ensuring the accuracy and integrity of benchmarks across the EU.

ESMA has also conducted legal analysis to ensure that the draft technical standards would not conflict with its powers under the BMR and has amended some requirements accordingly. The draft standards include provisions ensuring that:

• The governance arrangements of administrators are sufficiently robust
• The potential manipulation of benchmarks is minimized, through additional rules regarding the methodology of calculation and controls to ensure the integrity of the data; and
• Common criteria are used across different Member States for the assessment of the mandatory administration of critical benchmarks and the compliance statement for non-significant benchmarks.