Michael Held: The LIBOR countdown has not stopped

Remarks (via videoconference) by Mr Michael Held, Executive Vice President of the Legal Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the IMN Virtual Investors' Conference on LIBOR, 29 September 2020.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Thank you for that kind introduction, and for the opportunity to speak to you all today. As always, my remarks reflect my own views and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System.

The last time I spoke publicly about LIBOR transition was almost 18 months ago, when the end of LIBOR still seemed reasonably far away and the world in general seemed much more predictable. I said then that what kept me up most at night was whether my daughter would get into a good kindergarten in Brooklyn, but that reference rate reform was only a little further down the list.

You'll be relieved to know that my daughter is now in a great school, and it's very close to home. In fact, it's in our living room. A year and a half ago, I never could have anticipated how different and uncertain every single part of our lives would become.