Financial instruments and financial contracts, such as derivatives, mortgage credit bonds and loans, depend on the accuracy and integrity of interest rate benchmarks. Robust and accurate reference rates in Danish kroner are accordingly essential for financial markets, businesses, and households.
Finance Denmark and Danmarks Nationalbank have jointly established the Working Group on CIBOR Transition (WGCT) which has the overall objective of analysing and providing recommendations on a transition from CIBOR to transaction-based reference rates across krone-denominated financial instruments and financial contracts such as bonds, deposits, loans and derivatives. The announcement of the WGCT was made on 18 November jointly by the Danish FSA, Danmarks Nationalbank and Finance Denmark. The objectives and governance of the WGCT is set out in the Terms of Reference for the WGCT.
The WGCT’s voting members are credit institutions, mortgage credit institutions and public issuers while the observers include Danmarks Nationalbank, the Danish FSA and Finance Denmark as well as representatives from various stakeholders such as business associations and central counterparties (CCPs).
Danmarks Nationalbank and Finance Denmark provide the WGCT’s secretariat.
The WGCT can only make recommendations on market practice for the transition as well as provide recommendations to Finance Denmark. The WGCT is supported by sub-groups that are to submit their conclusions and recommendations to the WGCT for review and approval.
The transition from CIBOR to transaction-based reference rates is in line with the global efforts to ensure that referenced interest rates are robust and accurate, including the transitions away from the interbank offered rates (IBORs) and other interbank reference rates in the USA, UK and Euro Area.
The WGCT will communicate to the public and carry out consultations to ensure that stakeholders are included in the transition.
DESTR provides a basis for enabling CIBOR transition
Danmarks Nationalbank is the owner and administrator of DESTR, Denmark Short-Term Rate, and follows the same methodology as €STR, Euro Short-Term Rate.
DESTR is a transaction-based reference rate, which has been published by Danmarks Nationalbank since April 2022. The use of DESTR has since the introduction been firmly established across Danish markets. Having a well-established short-term transaction-based reference rate, which can also serve as the basis for forward-looking reference rates, is central to enabling a transition away from CIBOR.