ECB: Working group on euro risk-free rates issues recommendations to support smooth transfer of EONIA’s liquidity to €STR

19 February 2020

The report supplements a previous report from the working group on the impact of the transition from EONIA to the €STR on cash and derivatives products (published in August 2019) and provides clarifications around specific topics that have been discussed since then.

The working group highlights that contracts referenced to EONIA with maturities beyond 3 January 2022 would entail significant risks. It therefore recommends that market participants should replace EONIA products with €STR products and reduce their EONIA-linked legacy exposures as soon as possible.

In order to accelerate the transition process, market-makers are encouraged to proactively price in the €STR rather than EONIA as their default, and central counterparties are recommended to consider developments in the nettability (compression) of the €STR and EONIA.

The working group expects a full migration from EONIA-linked to €STR-linked products. It therefore recommends that the current EONIA market liquidity characteristics be used as a benchmark for building the initial target for the €STR and that market participants analysing the available data assess the liquidity of the €STR derivatives market.

Full press release on ECB

Full report on ECB

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