ESMA consults on Fees for Benchmarks Administrators

The aim of the Consultation Paper is to advise the European Commission (EC) on fees to be paid by the benchmark administrators that will be supervised by ESMA starting in January 2022.

The Consultation Paper contains ESMA’s first proposal for BMR fees to be paid by third country administrators under the recognition regime and by administrators of a critical benchmark.

The Paper distinguishes between:

• one-off recognition fee to be paid by third country administrators applying for recognition;
• one-off authorisation fee to be paid by administrators of critical benchmarks applying for authorisation;
• annual supervisory fee to be paid by third country administrators; and
• annual supervisory fee to be paid by administrators of a critical benchmark.

Next steps

The closing date for responses is 6 November 2020. ESMA will consider the responses to this consultation with a view to providing Technical Advice to the EC and aims to publish its final report in January 2021.