Central banks ready to break swap market's Libor habit

Policy-makers are not content to leave the interest rate derivatives market anchored to Libor and its family of benchmarks, preferring the idea of a multi-rate world. But getting from here to there will require the market to be pushed, and could also fragment liquidity. Joe Rennison reports

federal reserve
Federal Reserve

Libor is bad for you. Market participants know it, but lack the willpower to do anything about a reference rate that anchors roughly 60% of over-the-counter interest rate derivatives, so central banks and supervisors are going to help users kick the habit. And they don't care how unpleasant the withdrawal symptoms are.

That, in a nutshell, is the message of a July report prepared for the Financial Stability Board by 21 high-ranking officials from 11 countries – the Official Sector Steering Group

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