ABBL Conference "Benchmarks Reform - The Transition to Risk-Free Rates and the Impact on the Luxembourg Financial Sector"

The ABBL, together with its partners the Luxembourg Financial Markets Association (LFMA) and the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA) would like to thank the more than 200 registered participants for their presence and participation to this major industry event. The ABBL and its partners also would like to extend their thanks to the different panel experts as well as their keynote speaker for sharing their expertise and knowledge with the Luxembourg market. 

 In light of the entry into force of the European Benchmarks Regulation (BMR), the different speakers at the conference took the opportunity to emphasise the importance for all market participants to get engaged with this issue now, share ideas and develop solutions that work for all. It is in the interest of the entire marketplace (whether local, regional, European or international) to ensure that the benchmarks reform occurs smoothly.

 In his introduction, Mr Gilles Walers from the Luxembourg Bankers' Association insisted on the importance of market awareness and understanding to enable the Luxembourg financial sector to emerge strengthened and more resilient out of the transition phase. The keynote speaker, Mr Jean-Louis Schirmann, Secretary General of the European Money Markets Institute (EMMI), followed up on these preliminary statement by sharing with the participants a set of information on the involvement of EMMI in the transition process as well as valuable insight into the reform processes for EURIBOR and EONIA, including the transitional phase towards what will be known as €STR (for the slides of the event, please see here).

 The first panel insisted on the importance of market preparedness, gap assessments for the entire product range as well as operational challenges that markets face in the transitional period. The panel composed of several legal, operational and industry experts hailing from the London market took advantage from their vast experience exposure to the ongoing LIBOR reform and presented key findings from ongoing transition projects. After a well-deserved coffee break, the final panel saw the ABBL head of communication, Philipp von Restorff, interviewing not only two Luxembourg-grown experts but feel the pulse from the audience through a series of interactive Q&As to insist on the importance of transparent and understandable communication vis-à-vis the clients when it comes to the proposed changes to client documentation.

 The conference was closed after a networking cocktail enabling the participants to share their takeaways and experiences between themselves.

 All the pictures of the conference are available on our website in the section past events.

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Best regards

Vincenzo Giunta - President of LFMA