ICE approved as benchmark administrator by FCA

ICE Data Services has been given green light in the UK to act as a third country benchmark administrator.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has been granted approval by the UK’s financial watchdog to operate as a third country benchmark administrator under the European Benchmark Regulation (BMR).

In a statement, ICE Data Services said that it had received the approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) last month, meaning that market participants can reference its indices in compliance with the rules.

“We are strong proponents of a robust governance framework for financial benchmarks,” said Phil Galdi, head of indices at ICE Data Services. “We are proud to have been recognised as a third country benchmark administrator by the FCA, and are committed to achieving the highest standards for the indices that we administer.”

As an administrator, firms are required to implement high standards of governance, oversight and transparency for the provision of indices so that market participants can use the benchmarks within the regulatory framework.

Other approved benchmark administrators include Cboe, IHS Markit, FTSE International, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, MSCI, NEX Data Services and Refinitiv Benchmark Services.

Last month, ICE Data Services announced the launch of its new data management platform for historical tick data. Known as the ICE DataVault the cloud-based platform provides users with aggregated real-time tick data via programmatic, cloud, or click-thru access.

According to Jonathan Reeve, head of connectivity, feeds and desktops at ICE Data Services, the historical data offers critical insight into what is driving movements in a market, and it is a key ingredient for pre and post-trade analytics.

“By offering our historical tick data over the cloud, or through our existing programmatic solution, we’re giving customers a flexible and customisable solution for delivering data that can help power strategies, meet compliance needs and manage risk across global markets,” Reeve added.

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