ESMA PUBLISHES TECHNICAL ADVICE ON FINES AND PENALTIES FOR BENCHMARKS ADMINISTRATORS
The European Securities and Markets Authority, the EU’s securities markets regulator, today published its technical advice to the European Commission (EC) on procedural rules for imposing fines and penalties on Benchmark Administrators under its direct supervision.
ESMA has assessed and addressed the comments received during the consultation period and decided to maintain the original proposals made in its consultation paper. It has included advice on some specific procedural aspects including:
- the right to be heard by the independent investigation officer (IIO);
- the content of the file to be submitted by the IIO;
- access to the file;
- the procedure for imposing fines;
- the adoption of interim decisions;
- the limitation periods for imposition and enforcement of penalties;
- the collection of fines and penalties; and
- the relevant calculation periods.
ESMA's final advice builds on the existing enforcement framework regarding Trade Repositories and Credit Rating Agencies as well as on practical experience in implementing this framework in the last years. It also considers the Authority’s previous technical advice to the EC on procedural rules for imposing fines and penalties on TC-CCPs, which was published on 31 March 2020.
Next steps
The EC is expected to adopt a delegated act and will need to specify all the aspects on which ESMA has advised.