 Good morning ladies and gentlemen I'd like to welcome you to today's round table on euro risk-free rates. My name is Cornelia Holthausen I'm deputy director general here at the DG market operations at the ECB and I will moderate today's event for you The purpose of this meeting is to provide you and generally a big audience with more insights into the various work streams that are Ongoing in relation to interest rate benchmark reform in Europe So while the working group on risk-free rates is composed of private sector participants and chaired by the private sector chair The ECB is also very engaged in this process So we are not only observers in this group, but we also provide the secretariat and in this function We invited you to come here to the ECB today We will have an interesting list of speakers throughout the day that will provide you with a lot of information on the Deliberations of the working group the current state of play as regards existing benchmarks and those that are to come the Regulatory reform and in particular the new ECB interest rate ester and other related issues So let me start by introducing the first group of high-level speakers So with the ECB being the host of this event I'm very happy that Benoit Corée member of our executive board Was able to give the opening remarks today and his remarks will be followed by an introduction by Mr. Steven van Rijkswijk who's The chairman of the working group on risk-free rates and apart from that member of the board and chief risk officer at ING Bank and Then following that Tillman Lüder head of unit in the European Commission's DG FISMA Will give some introductory remarks on the state of play as regards legislation So with out further ado Benoit, could you take the floor? Thank you very much Cornelia. Good morning everyone and welcome to the ECB and Welcome to this round table on your risk-free rates There is no need to recall the urgency of what's at stake here trillions worth of financial contracts dependent benchmarks This means that we need to find solutions and soon That can ensure the stability of the financial system The working group on your risk-free rates has done hard work so far in that direction and Going forward. I see three areas that require our attention and we listen very carefully to at all Panel participants have to say about these three dimensions The first area is a transition towards ester as you are well aware ester your short-term rate is a Is an unsecured overnight borrowing rate to be produced by the ECB on a daily basis It is calculated from data which is available to the ECB from its statistical money market collection So the so-called MMSR data from the money market statistical regulation The working group on your risk-free rates unanimously recommended ester as a new euro risk-free rate to replace a on now The ECB welcomes the recommendations of the working group Esther is a reliable and robust rates. It reflects financing conditions in the money markets better than secured rates Which could be influenced by regulatory and collateral factors unrelated to bank borrowing? Developing ester within a tight time frame Means that there is a trade-off involved the better market participants are prepared for and understand the properties of ester The faster the transition to a liquid market is likely to be I Can therefore understand the arguments of those pushing us for a speedy release of the new rate in 2019 But too fast the publication might entail operational risks The sufficient period of testing is required to make sure that the technical setup Achieves the highest degree of reliability to guarantee the smooth production of ester Robust business continuity and contingency plans must be developed so we have therefore communicated that we will publish ester by October 2019 at the latest In other words, we aim at releasing ester as early as possible But only once we are confident that it meets our requirements regarding reliability and robustness. So you will learn more In 2019 about the the final timeline. It will have to reflect the trade-off. I've just described I Won't elaborate much further on ester as later today. You will hear more from different speakers But allow me to point out that with the recommendation of ester as a euro risk-free rate The work has only just started It is now up to the working group on your risk-free rates to put forward a transition plan For the replacement of Eonia Time in short is short in view of the timeline prescribed by the EU benchmark regulation And I say this also being aware of the industrial recommendation towards the co-digislators for extension of this timeline I'm pretty sure that this would be further discussed today Second area of focus is a reform of your high ball While ester represents an alternative benchmark for the short-term segment of the money market Progress towards the development of alternatives for longer tenors is yet to be seen I See this as a key area for the working group for your high ball work is currently ongoing under the auspices of the Europe and money market institutes the emmi Which will hopefully result in a new compliant benchmark based on a hybrid methodology using actual transactions whenever available and Relying on other related market prices when required That's clearly encouraging But it's important that the working group continues to work on the construction of credible rates as Full back rates for your I bor so that there are safeguards for the smooth functioning of the financial markets Which leads me to the third area of focus which is contracts robustness The working group needs to elaborate on credible proposals for how financial contracts can be made robust Including through the elaboration of workable full-back provisions addressing the discontinuation of existing reference rates Let me conclude by saying how important it is that the private sector builds on the current momentum And that awareness and initiative is spread across an even broader base of market participants Which is in the essence of what we're doing today also to to raise the level of awareness throughout The marketplace there are many steps that can be taken by each market participants already now for example To increase internal awareness of the risks and related exposures To start Preparations for example by an inventory of the financial products impacted in your organization Or a review of the stock of contracts the incorporation of fullbacks or the evaluation of the impact of benchmark discontinuation And also to communicate actively vis-à-vis clients and to participate in different relevant for working groups Roundtables etc. And respond to public consultations These steps apply to big market players as well as to smaller and less sophisticated market participants At the end of the day the success of Eonia transition and more generally of your benchmark reform depends on every user I hope that we can achieve progress on all three fronts swiftly and I very much Trust this event today to be a an important step in that direction Let me thank everyone involved in the organization of today's event. I would like to particularly thank the chair of the working groups even and also take the opportunity to pay tribute to the work done by a costimermans as the inaugural chair of this Working group Also, I would like to thank the work done by your team Steven which has been really pivotal in the work of the other working group And I would like to thank all the speakers I'm sure that today's event will be a success and useful for all of us and without due delay. I Hand the floor to Steven