Financial Benchmarks: Bedeutung, Problematik und regulatorische Ansätze

Financial benchmarks have become important reference points in the global financial market guiding worldwide obligations in financial contracts in the amount of hundreds of billions of US-Dollars. Since July 2012, after the attempted manipulation of Libor became known, the issues of credibility and representativeness of such widely used financial benchmarks are in the spotlight of the global community.

An international reform process was initiated under the auspices of the G20, coordinated by the Financial Stability Board (FSB). This led in particular to the IOSCO Principles from 2013 to make financial benchmarks more solid. Additionally, after consultation of a market participants group, the FSB recommended to promote alternative (risk-free) reference points to the most important financial benchmarks, given that certain transactions are better suited to these alternatives. In Switzerland, already two alternative rates exist, namely the so called TOIS fixing and the SARON.

The European Union is on the verge to adopt a wide regulation for financial benchmarks used in the Union addressing administrators but also contributors and users. The EU Regulation still allows Swiss administrators to be recognized in the EU, or their benchmarks to be endorsed respectively. On the long run an equivalence decision of the European Commission might be aimed for to get a more general market access.