IOSCO to Survey Effects of Storage Warehouses on Price Formation in Commodity Derivatives Markets (with Link to Streetwise Professor)

IOSCO announced that its Committee 7 on Commodity Derivatives (the "Committee") is researching the potential effects of storage infrastructure on the integrity of the price formation process of commodity derivatives in member jurisdictions.

The first stage in the Committee's work has been to develop a questionnaire in order to gather information to inform its research. The questions are divided into a number of chapters focusing on different aspects of the storage infrastructure environment. The Committee hopes that the questionnaire will focus particularly on participants' views of perceived or actual issues regarding:

• ambiguities about the scope of existing rules applying to storage infrastructures;
• operational practices of storage infrastructures that create inefficiencies in the price formation process;
• conflicts of interest arising due to the ownership structure of storage infrastructures; and
• ambiguities arising from the process of collecting and disseminating information to the market.

IOSCO is requesting that members respond to the questionnaire, and encourages other relevant entities in members' jurisdictions to do so as well.

The closing date for responses is October 31, 2014. Responses will be published on the IOSCO website.