The European Commission last week proposed tougher rules to police financial and commodity benchmarks in response to the Libor and Euribor rate-rigging scandals. The rules, which will also apply to oil marker North Sea Brent, say benchmark providers will have to be regulated and supervised, avoid conflicts of interest, and maintain robust methodologies. For oil and gas, they will be largely based on the IOSCO Principles for Oil Price Reporting Agencies, published last October, which made clear that agencies will have to work harder to make the notoriously opaque world of price reporting more transparent and publicly accountable (PIW Oct.15'12).
展开▼
