Argus completes tenth benchmark review
Leading global energy and commodity price reporting agency Argus has successfully completed the tenth external assurance review of its energy and commodity benchmarks and other key prices.
Independent professional services company PwC examined the policies and processes through which Argus assesses prices for crude oil, oil products, LPG, petrochemicals, thermal and coking coal, natural gas, biofuels, biomass and metals.
The policies and processes reviewed by PwC were designed by Argus to comply with the principles for price reporting agencies (PRAs) set out by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (the Iosco PRA Principles) in October 2012.
EU financial regulator the European Securities and Markets Authority has also ruled that an annual review against Iosco PRA Principles is sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the audit report requirements of the EU Benchmark Regulation (BMR), which came into effect in January 2018.
The prices reviewed included those published by Argus Media and those administered by Argus Benchmark Administration (ABA). ABA was incorporated in the Netherlands in April 2019 to administer all those benchmarks that fall into the scope of the BMR.
Argus Media chairman and chief executive Adrian Binks said: “We maintain the highest possible standards as we know our customers rely on our prices for their day to day and strategic operations. It is important that our methodology is market appropriate and fully transparent. The review represents an independent and rigorous external assurance of our policies and processes”.
Argus became the first PRA to complete an independent review of oil benchmarks, in October 2013, and was the first to extend the Iosco PRA Principles to non-oil energy benchmarks, in January 2014.
The Iosco PRA Principles were endorsed by the G20 in November 2012. They cover governance, control, quality, integrity and conflict management in relation to commodity benchmark price assessments published by PRAs, and require an annual external audit.
Argus’ description of its policies and procedures, together with the full assurance review, are publicly available, and Argus’ price assessment methodologies are also online.
The Iosco PRA Principles are available at http://www.iosco.org/library/pubdocs/pdf/IOSCOPD391.pdf
About Argus Media
Argus is an independent media organisation with almost 1,100 staff. It is headquartered in London and has 26 offices in the world’s principal commodity trading and production centres. Argus produces price assessments and analysis of international energy and other commodity markets and offers bespoke consulting services and industry-leading conferences.
Companies in 140 countries around the world use Argus data to index physical trade and as benchmarks in financial derivative markets as well as for analysis and planning purposes.
Argus was founded in 1970 and is a privately held UK-registered company. It is owned by employee shareholders, global growth equity firm General Atlantic and Hg, the specialist software and technology services investor.
ARGUS, the ARGUS logo, ARGUS MEDIA, ARGUS DIRECT, ARGUS OPEN MARKETS, AOM, FMB, DEWITT, JIM JORDAN & ASSOCIATES, JJ&A, FUNDALYTICS, METAL-PAGES, METALPRICES.COM, INTEGER, Argus publication titles and Argus index names are trademarks of Argus Media Limited.
