ICIS, a global source of commodity intelligence, today announced that the independent assurance review of its price reporting business has been successfully completed for the tenth consecutive year.
The Price Reporting Agency (PRA) principles are set out by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to ensure that commodity benchmark price reporting meets the highest standards.
“The war in Ukraine, the energy transition and other geopolitical factors mean commodity markets remain volatile and our customers need to be able to trust our data. IOSCO’s PRA principles are an essential ingredient in our benchmarks, assuring our commitment to transparency and objectivity. In a year when our purpose has never been more needed or more challenging to deliver against, I am delighted that we have met the IOSCO standards once again,” said Stephen Burns, Editorial Director at ICIS.
The 2022 audit includes new assessments for Propylene CFR in NE and SE Asia and Ethylene FD NWE month, along with two German assessments under the EU benchmark regulation that merged to THE last year. A full report detailing how ICIS has met the IOSCO PRA Principles can be found here.
This external audit, carried out by BDO LLP, complies with the requirements of the Benchmarks Regulation (BMR) for commodity benchmarks (paragraph 18 of Annex II) as outlined by European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). The areas assured include governance structures, controls, maintenance of Editorial integrity, and conflict management processes in relation to the creation of commodity benchmark price assessments.
This report is accompanied by BDO’s findings following an independent review of ICIS processes and policies to provide Reasonable and Limited Assurance conclusions.
“The audit supports the confidence our customers have in the vital, trusted ICIS data they need more than ever to manage risk,” Burns said.
