Finance Denmark today announced that it has reached an agreement to transfer the Administration of the key reference rates CIBOR®, CITA, SWAP and Tomorrow/Next to the Danish Financial Benchmark Facility ApS (DFBF). The newly formed company is a Danish incorporated subsidiary of Global Rate Set Systems (GRSS) who themselves are a specialist provider of financial benchmark services.
Jakob Legård Jakobsen from Finance Denmark said "It became clear to us that we should seek to appoint an independent specialist in order to ensure our reference rates remain robust, transparent and evolve for the ongoing benefit of the Danish financial markets. The decision to transfer responsibilities to GRSS was the result of an extensive tender process, with Finance Denmark officials assessing a number of potential organisations to take the benchmarks forward and to achieve authorisation under European Benchmark Regulation".
"The newly formed company will combine the proven governance expertise and technologies of GRSS together with the experience of current members of the Pengemarked committee to provide a knowledgeable oversight committee", said Jakob Legård Jakobsen.
Mark Beaumont from GRSS said ‘In addition to the steps previously taken by Finance Denmark, the introduction of new standards and systems will further reinforce the standing of the Danish benchmarks and provide confidence to local and international investors that the benchmarks meet international best practice standards.
The transition is expected to take up to six months with full compliance with BMR to be achieved before 1st January 2020.
Media Contacts
Finance Denmark: Carsten Brink cb@fida.dk
GRSS: Klara Ivanovic klara.ivanovic@globalrateset.com
About Finance Denmark
Finance Denmark is a business association for banks, mortgage institutions, asset management, securities trading and investment funds in Denmark. Our members are mortgage institutions, banks, savings banks, cooperative savings banks, Danish branches of foreign banks, asset managers, Danish securities dealers and investment funds. Naturally, Finance Denmark aims to ensure fair business conditions for the financial industry. But we are also part of society and preferably a society rich in opportunities. At the end of 2016, the Association of Danish Mortgage Banks, the Danish Mortgage Banks’ Federation and the Danish Bankers Association agreed that banks and mortgage institutions’ interests would be best represented by one joint organisation. Therefore, the three associations agreed to merge under the name Finance Denmark, with the Association of Danish Mortgage Banks renamed the department of mortgage credit and property financing under Finance Denmark.
About Global Rate Set Systems Limited
Global Rate Set Systems works closely with industry stakeholders to assist in the evolution of financial benchmarks and indices for the benefit of the markets and stakeholders that they serve. Their services, include benchmark administration, calculation agent systems, transaction based collection systems and data licensing facilitation. The company was founded in 2009 as an independent and non-conflicted organisation to assist Financial Markets Associations and Central banks to develop capabilities to collate, process and distribute key financial industry benchmarks.
BMR
European Benchmark Regulation was introduced in 2016 to combat conflicts of interest and risks associated with the potential manipulation of financial benchmarks