The EU was also thought to favour benchmark pricing as the fairest way to set iron-ore prices for steelmakers.

ECONOMIST: BHP Billiton ends its pursuit of Rio Tinto

Brent crude's position as the accepted benchmark for pricing most of the world's oil is coming under fire, as experts in the oil market say the blend doesn't reflect true global supply and demand.

WSJ: Brent Benchmark Is Skewed by Crude Measure

And yet, despite their inherent fuzziness and lack of "significant operational content", despite the lack of formal checks on banks' internal procedures for coming up with these rates, Euribor and Libor are the benchmark for pricing transactions worth trillions of dollars.

BBC: Inconvenient truths about Libor

Ironically, the turning-point came earlier this year, when it was suggested that, as the supply of Treasury bonds dwindles thanks to the federal government's surplus, mortgage-agency debt could replace them as the benchmark used for pricing other fixed-income securities.

ECONOMIST: Homesick blues

That index measures factors like licensing, philanthropy, research and development and pricing by company, offering companies the opportunity to benchmark their responsibility efforts against those of their competitors.

FORBES: The Crisis of Counterfeits and Transparency in Developing World Medicine