Leong Sing Chiong: Pushing ahead with SOR-SORA transition in 2021

Keynote speech by Mr Leong Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director (Markets & Development) of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the ASIFMA Virtual Event "Singapore IBOR Transition", 2 February 2021.

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

Central bank speech  | 
12 February 2021
by Leong Sing Chiong
PDF full text
(112kb)
  |  7 pages

1      Good morning everyone. First, let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year!  Let me also thank the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) for organising this webinar and inviting me to speak on the important issue of Singapore's interest rate benchmark transition.

2      In the next 20 mins or so, I will do a brief recap of the key objectives and milestones that we had set out last year.  I will then touch on some recent developments in the US and UK that have a bearing on our transition timelines, and I will finally outline what our priorities are for this year in the transition to Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA).

Recap

3      Back in 2019, the financial industry in Singapore, represented by the ABS and the Singapore Foreign Exchange Market Committee (SFEMC) , assessed that given the eventual discontinuation of USD London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and SGD Swap Offer Rate (SOR), the most sustainable and sensible path was to transition affected SOR markets to SORA. 

  • SORA is a robust interest rate benchmark underpinned by transactions in a deep and liquid overnight interbank funding market.
  • Such a shift would be aligned to the global direction in other major financial centres, and support continued active participation of global institutions and investors in SGD markets.