Globally, the Official Sector Steering Group (OSSG) established under the Financial Stability Board has been monitoring closely the LIBOR transition progress, and providing helpful guidance to the industry through the publication of the Global Transition Roadmap. As a member of the OSSG, we have been working closely with other overseas authorities and contributing our efforts to this global exercise. As with the implementation of other global financial reforms, international cooperation is crucial, not only in setting globally consistent expectations and milestones, but also in minimizing any potential fragmentation in the transition across different jurisdictions. 5. In addition to our active role in the international arena, we at the HKMA have also attached great importance to harness the region’s collective voice in these global issues. Especially, with my role as the chair of the Executives’ Meeting of East Asia-Pacific Central Banks’ (EMEAP) Working Group on Financial Markets (W GFM), we have devoted much attention to topical issues like LIBOR and local Alternative Reference Rates transition, and helped our regional peers push forward with their preparation for the transition. I’m glad to see that the W GFM has been a useful platform that complements the bilateral discussion of member jurisdictions with ISDA, and facilitates certain members’ participation in the 2nd ISDA IBOR Fallback Protocol. I understand that ISDA is planning to publish the 2nd Protocol by the end of this year. Joint Industry Efforts to Support the Transition 6. Besides policy guidance and regulatory push, active participation by industry is also key in ensuring a smooth LIBOR transition.

Over the past decades, LIBOR has been so widely used and deeply ingrained in our global economy that the pricing and return of a broad range 1/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  of financial products were referencing to this critical benchmark. To help us tackle this complex exercise and further expedite our transition progress, collaborative efforts would be key. This means that – not only banks, sell-side and buy-side institutions should continue to push forward with their preparatory work, but also their corporate and SME clients should step up the transition efforts. 7. To facilitate a smooth transition, tremendous efforts have been put in by various industry associations in the past few years. Alongside their close engagement with industry stakeholders, they have developed useful resources and materials to promote greater awareness and readiness. In this respect, we strongly encourage market participants to draw reference from these industry publication, and make good use of the existing tools available when preparing for the transition. 8. With that, I would like to highlight and draw your attention to a joint information note published by the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (APLMA) and Treasury Markets Association (TMA) last month, which sets out the key options available in the loan market for replacing US dollar LIBOR. We hope that, with this publication, loan borrowers and market participants could develop a better understanding on the characteristics of these options, and make timely action to transition away from LIBOR. 9.