benoit cœure : euro interest rate benchmark reform : achievements and remaining challenges opening remarks by mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the annual dinner of the working group on euro risk - free rates, frankfurt am main, 26 february 2019. * * * good evening and welcome to the first annual dinner of the working group on euro risk - free rates. on this very day one year ago, the working group on euro risk - free rates held its first meeting in frankfurt, hosted by the ecb. looking back, your achievements have been impressive, almost on a par with the challenges that lie ahead. in its short existence, the working group has recorded two prominent achievements. the first is the choice in september 2018 of the ecb ’ s overnight rate as the new euro risk - free rate. this decision provided clarity to market participants and planning certainty for the transition towards more robust benchmarks in the euro area. it also brought the euro area closer in line with other currency areas in preparing for new benchmarks. the second achievement is that, at the roundtable on euro risk - free rates in november 2018, the working group took a major step in reaching out to stakeholders and raising awareness of its activities. sound communication and transparency are vital for spreading awareness about the transition to risk - free rates beyond a small circle of informed parties. by getting the message across to a more diverse audience, the working group lends more legitimacy to its recommendations and does as much as it can to promote market consensus. this first roundtable was a successful exercise in this regard. in time, i would expect such open communication to play a pivotal role in the transition to more robust interest rate benchmarks. besides these two very concrete achievements, i know that a great deal of work on building a consensus has been going on behind the scenes in the various sub - structures of the working group over the past year. reaching agreement on recommendations that reflect the views of such a wide variety of institutions is not an easy task. over the course of last year, the working group and subgroups members held no less than 80 teleconferences and seven working group meetings, which give some idea of the work that went into aligning views within such a tight time frame. i would like to thank all of you, including the team supporting the working group chair, for your contributions, as well as the secretariats of the ecb and the european securities and markets authority for

will be some takeaways that you will find helpful in your capacity as ineds of banks. 9. fellow ineds, i have talked long enough and now is the time for me to introduce to you our keynote speaker for this conference. we are honoured and highly privileged to have mr andrew bailey, chief executive officer of the uk financial conduct authority, to fly all the way from london to join us today. andrew needs no introduction. before he joined the fca last year, he was the deputy governor in the bank of england and chief executive officer of the prudential regulation authority from april 2013 until june last year. so andrew is truly exceptional in the sense that he has been in charge of both the prudential and conduct sides of banking supervision, and is very well - respected internationally. he is therefore uniquely well placed to share with us his experience and insights. mr bailey, please. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches