Andrew Hauser, Executive Director for Markets, spoke at the recent Risk.net LIBOR Telethon. He said that following the announcements of recent weeks and subject to the ICE Benchmark Administration’s consultations, there can be little doubt that the LIBOR panels for sterling, yen, Swiss franc, euro and the less heavily traded dollar tenors will cease at the end of 2021.
In summary, LIBOR’s days are numbered and conversion to the new benchmarks, like SONIA, is a necessity - this will inevitably and unavoidably bring some challenges for corporates, but there is plenty of skilled assistance available to be called upon as the choppy waters are navigated and the calmer SONIA waters can be reached.
The BIS has released its 2019 Triennial Survey of Global FX and OTC Derivatives Markets. The statistics reveal further material growth over the last three years with average daily turnover rising to $6.6 trillion in April 2019, compared to $5.1 trillion in 2016. Derivatives have gained ground over Spot with FX swaps accounting for close to half of all trading in April and London has maintained its dominant position as the premier trading centre with 43% of the market.
To coincide with the release of this report, Andrew Hauser, Executive Director, Markets, at the Bank of England made a speech at TradeTech FX 2019[1] in Barcelona in which he made a call to arms for yet more firms to sign up to the FX Global Code of Conduct, particularly on the buyside.
Following market consultation, the FCA announced that it was formally recognising the FX Global Code and the UK Money Markets Code on the 26th June. These are the first codes to be recognised under the FCA’s codes recognition scheme which was announced last year, to recognise industry codes for unregulated markets and activities. Both these codes have been written by and are owned by the industry and reflect their views of best practice.
