31 May 2018

Steven Maijoor Addresses ICMA Annual Conference on benchmark stability and integrity

 In my contribution I want to draw your attention to a single theme that has not recently received the attention it deserves but which has returned to the top of many of our agendas, and that is financial benchmarks. It is appropriate that this conference ends today with a panel of some of the key public sector agents in financial benchmark change.

Let me say a few words on why benchmarks have come into focus for legislators, regulators, and central banks and then briefly recall the role played by ESMA to date. I will then conclude with my views on where the current global initiatives on interest rates benchmarks should take us, and the main challenges that we face. A number of aspects will form a theme throughout my address: we have all ignored that our train went in the wrong direction, we failed to alter its course when we should have, and we only have limited time left to get the train back on the right track.

The BMR has introduced a levelled approach to the regulation and supervision of different categories of benchmarks. The European Commission has declared the biggest interbank interest rates benchmarks EONIA, Euribor and LIBOR as being critical benchmarks, and they are supervised by colleges to ensure that supranational perspectives are taken into account. ESMA is a member of these supervisory colleges to promote and monitor their efficient and effective functioning and to ensure consistent supervisory practices across critical benchmarks. In this capacity, ESMA has also already published two methodological frameworks to further align the work of the colleges.

More urgently than ever, the task today is to find the right benchmark for the right purpose. And let me be honest: this is a task where the financial industry needs to take the initiative. ESMA and the international regulatory community will give all the support it can. But with the ever increasing reliance on these very few special purpose benchmarks by an entire industry, it was the private sector that steered the ship into the wild waters it is now in, and it is the private sector which should stay on-board to guide the ship back to safer waters.

Let me therefore conclude by stressing that it is therefore crucial that the major industry associations, including ICMA of course, are on board when candidates for alternative RFRs are discussed, when term structures are developed, and when matters of implementation are debated. I want to thank ICMA for participating in the RFR Working Group and for contributing to its work streams. Moreover, I believe that today’s conference is a great occasion to discuss the work that we are undertaking globally: reforming benchmarks worldwide is a pressing challenge that calls for all of us to play our part.

Full speech

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