Extending the transitional period for third country benchmarks in the UK

On November 8, 2023, the HM Treasury has issued a policy paper on behalf of the UK government to inform of and explain the reasoning behind its legislative action to extend the transitional period for third country benchmarks under the UK Benchmarks Regulation up to December 31, 2030.
Currently, this transition period is set to expire at the end of 2025. Following this date, third country benchmark providers would have to be officially considered equivalent to UK benchmarks, recognized, or endorsed in the UK. As the government fears that various benchmark providers will not be able to meet this deadline or have no incentive to meet this deadline (e.g. providers of non-commercial benchmarks) and to prevent a limitation on competition in the UK, it has now layed a statutory instrument to extend the deadline as noted above.
The Treasury concludes by noting that – with the implementation of the Financial Services and Market Act 2023, the Financial Services Act 2021, and the Critical Benchmarks Act 2021 – all major legislative work has now been completed. The government will now focus on legislative measures needed for proper market functioning and implement these via its Smarter Regulatory Framework programme.