The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has announced that James von Moltke will be the next chair of the Euro Risk-Free Rates working group.
Acting in its capacity as secretariat of this working group, the European securities market regulator says that von Moltke will succeed ING’s Tanate Phutrakul as head of the working group, which has delivered a number of substantial recommendations on benchmark transition and reform for the euro area.
Currently chief financial officer and management board member at Deutsche Bank, van Moltke has previously worked in the treasury division at Citi and sat on the supervisory board of BVV Versicherungsverein des Bankgewerbes.
Among its priorities, the Euro Risk-Free Rates working group will focus on promoting ongoing transition away from LIBOR as a benchmark rate for a range of financial products and with identifying potential obstacles to adoption of €STR, the short-term reference rate for the euro currency.
The working group was established in 2017 by the European Central Bank, ESMA, the European Commission and the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority to recommend risk-free rates that could be used as an alternative to existing benchmarks in the euro area such as EONIA and EURIBOR.
The group advised in September 2018 that €STR should be used as the risk-free rate for the euro area and it is focused on promoting the market’s transition to this euro short-term rate.
