benoit cœure : the importance of euro interest rate benchmark reforms welcome address by mr benoit cœure, member of the executive board of the european central bank, at the first meeting of the working group on euro risk - free rates, at the ecb, frankfurt am main, 26 february 2018. * * * on behalf of colleagues from the european commission, the european securities and markets authority, belgium ’ s financial services and markets authority and the european central bank ( ecb ), welcome to this first meeting of the working group on euro risk - free rates. thank you for dedicating your time and resources to supporting the working group in successfully delivering on its mandate. i would particularly like to thank koos timmermans, chief financial officer of ing group and vice - chairman of ing bank, for agreeing to chair the working group. i am convinced that the group will benefit from his extensive experience in european banking and financial markets. the task at hand is of utmost importance. first and foremost, the working group has a mandate to identify and develop an adoption plan for a risk - free overnight rate that can serve as a basis for an alternative to the benchmarks currently used in the euro area. as a second step, the working group should explore ways to ensure a smooth transition to the preferred new rate. both the financial and public sectors have a keen interest in a smooth and successful reform of the reference interest rate. for the financial sector, reference rates play a pivotal role because they are widely used in a broad range of financial products and contracts. in the past, we have seen banks become increasingly reluctant to participate voluntarily in benchmark panels, mainly due to potential litigation and compliance risks as well as increasing contribution costs. together with the declining activity in the underlying market, this has undermined confidence in the reliability and robustness of existing benchmarks. for the public sector, a smooth and successful reform is needed to underpin the good functioning of euro area money markets and trust in the related products. for the ecb in particular it is vital as monetary policy is initially transmitted through financial markets. a more reliable and robust reference interest rate may also enhance financial stability, for three main reasons : first, without robust fallback arrangements, a loss of confidence in reference rates may lead to market functioning being disrupted. second, poorly designed reference rates, given their underlying role in many financial contracts, may transfer risks and pricing errors across financial markets, or create greater and unnecessary basis risk. ultimately,

develop a new consumer expectations survey. according to the announcement, a pilot survey will soon be implemented. [ 8 ] aside from serving practical purposes within central banks, additional surveys on household expectations would also help to promote research. the us is clearly ahead in this field, and an important question is whether the results obtained there would also be valid for other countries. 4 conclusion ladies and gentlemen, the discovery of the “ clever hans phenomenon ” was a major breakthrough for experimental psychology and led to further research on the effects of expectations. for example, evidence was found that teachers ’ expectations could have an impact on students ’ performance. [ 9 ] more generally, “ clever hans ” may highlight the importance of designing experiments properly in order to avoid biased results. of course, our researchers also took this lesson to heart when they devised their pilot study. by resorting to an internet - based survey, they have effectively eliminated any possible impact of face - to - face contact. to conclude, i wish you a pleasant evening and a fruitful conference. and, finally, i am very glad to open this joint event together with governor villeroy de galhau. dear francois, thank you so much for coming and please take the floor. fußnoten : 1. samhita, l. and gross, h. j. ( 2013 ). the “ clever hans phenomenon ” revisited, communicative and integrative biology, 6 ( 6 ) : e27122. 2. goodfriend, m. ( 2007 ). how the world achieved consensus on monetary policy, journal of economic perspectives, 21, pp. ( pages ) 47 - 68. 3. deutsche bundesbank ( 2016 ). the phillips curve as an instrument for analysing prices and forecasting inflation in germany, monthly report, april 2016, pp. ( pages ) 31 - 45 ; coibion, o. and gorodnichenko, y. ( 2015 ). is the phillips curve alive and well after all? inflation expectations and the missing disinflation, american economic journal : macroeconomics 7. 1, pp. ( pages ) 197 - 232. 4. cœure, b., inflation expectations and the conduct of monetary policy, speech at an event organised by the safe policy center, 11 july 2019. 5. apokoritis, n., galati, g., moessner, r., teppa, f. ( 2019 ). inflation expectations