FRANCE: AMF Updates Doctrine Following EU Benchmark Reform

Friday July 24 2026

On 23^rd July 2026, Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) updated its regulatory doctrine to reflect the revision published in May 2025 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 relating to benchmark indices (BMR) and, on the other hand, to specify the procedures for prior notification to the AMF by the liquidators of UCITS or AIFs required to deposit with the Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) sums allocated to unit holders or shareholders but which could not be paid to them.

Revised Scope of Benchmark Administration

Under the new regime, non-significant benchmarks that are not Paris-Aligned Benchmarks (PABs), Climate Transition Benchmarks (CTBs), or commodity benchmarks covered by Annex II of BMR are excluded from the scope of the regulation. Consequently, only critical benchmarks, significant benchmarks, PABs, CTBs and commodity benchmarks covered by Annex II remain within scope.

The updated instructions clarify that the activity of benchmark administrators is subject to authorisation or registration only in the cases provided for in Article 34 of BMR, when they administer benchmarks falling within BMR’s new scope.

Benchmark Disclosure Requirements

Under the previous regime, Article 29.2 of the Regulation consisted of requiring information in the prospectus of UCITS using a benchmark within the meaning of BMR to indicate whether the index is provided by an administrator registered on ESMA’s public register.

The reduction in the scope of the benchmarks covered by BMR has had the effect of restricting the scope of this disclosure obligation. Under the new BMR regime, only UCITS that use benchmarks within the scope of the Regulation must indicate in their prospectus the status of the benchmark administrator.

Changes to UCITS and AIF Prospectuses

Following this revision of BMR, the AMF updated the prospectus and disclosure requirements for UCITS and AIFs to:

• Specify that the information relating to the administrator is applicable only when the fund uses an index falling within BMR’s scope.
• Require UCITS and AIFs using benchmarks outside the new BMR scope to remove related references from their prospectus or rules by 1 October 2026.
• Remove the extension of the director-related disclosure requirement in prospectuses or regulations to:
  • AIFs open to professional investors (FPVGs, OPPCIs, FPSs, including SLPs and SLPSs, FPCIs and OFSs) except those authorised under the ELTIF Regulation and which may be marketed to retail clients; and
  • AIFs open to non-professional investors (GIFFs, private equity funds and OPCIs), when their prospectus reserves the subscription or acquisition of units or shares to professional clients.
• Delete the transitional provisions introduced in 2018 that have become obsolete.
• Require clear disclosure where a significant benchmark used by a fund has been subject to an ESMA warning, and extend this requirement to relevant AIFs

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