Making financial benchmarks more reliable will help people with their pensions and mortgages, Lord Hill has said.
The European commissioner for financial services made the comments as a proposal to make benchmarks more reliable and less at risk of manipulation moved through the European parliament.
On 19 May, the European parliament cleared the way for negotiations with the Council and the Commission to start next month on proposed new standards.
Lord Hill said: “It is consumers who ultimately have to pay the price when benchmarks are manipulated or unreliable as this can increase the cost of their mortgage repayments or returns on pension funds.
“Our proposal will put in place rules for safer benchmarks across the EU.
“I am confident that we can now move swiftly to find an agreement on a final text.”
The proposed rules aim to improve the functioning and governance of benchmarks within the EU in financial instruments such as bonds, shares, futures or swaps, and in financial contracts such as mortgages.
Adviser View
Lee Waters, chief executive of East Sussex-based Barwells, said: “With any benchmark rigging, be it Libor or foreign exchange, it could have a direct effect on the end consumer. Whether there has been consumer detriment is difficult to tell.
“With Libor they kept it high, so there will be an advantage to savers and a disadvantage to borrowers.”
