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RMB has a dedicated project team working on reference rate reform impacts, both within the bank as well as the potential impact on agreements with clients and products offered going forward.
Dr Rashad Cassim, Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, remarked at the Market Practitioners Group Conference, The Galleria, Sandton, 19 April 2023: “The SARB would prefer a relatively short JIBAR transition period. Therefore, market participants are encouraged to actively transition as soon as possible to avoid what was witnessed during the LIBOR transition. Despite repeated advice from regulators and national working groups, most market participants did not take any action to reduce their exposure until the ‘endgame’ for LIBOR was in sight.”
There is a strong likelihood that JIBAR, SABOR, SAFEX and STeFI will cease to exist at some point in 2026.
RMB has solid governance structures set up to drive change. Workstreams are actively driving this across the business to ensure that we are working towards acting in the best interests of our clients, and to be in line with our peers across the globe. Planning is underway to reduce JIBAR exposures by issuing new non-JIBAR linked products, encouraging refinancing options and calling deals in good time.
Market participants have begun to adopt ARRs across the globe, including, but not limited to those outlined in the table:
| Country | Rate | Administrator |
|---|---|---|
 |
Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) | Federal Reserve Bank of New York |
 |
Reformed Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA) | Bank of England |
 |
Euro Short-Term Rate (€STR) | European Central Bank |
 |
Swiss Average Rate Overnight (SARON) | Swiss National Bank |
 |
Tokyo Overnight Average rate (TONA) |
Bank of Japan |
What has happened so far in South Africa?
To date, significant strides have been made in the effort to reform existing interest rate benchmarks:
- Revised JIBAR code of conduct which came into effect in April 2021 and revised in September 2023 for effect in October 2023.
- JIBAR post-trade disclosures have been published daily as required by the revised JIBAR code of Conduct.
- The final for Market conventions for ZARONIA-based derivatives was published in September 2023
- The final for Market conventions for ZARONIA-based cash market products was published in January 2024
- On 3 November 2023 the SARB announced that the observation of ZARONIA had come to an end and that the rate, now endorsed, could be used by market participants:
- In May 2024, the SARB published the following:
- an update to the transition timeline – Update on the Jibar transition plan (resbank.co.za)
- as well as the qualitative survey results – Qualitative survey results - February 2024 (resbank.co.za)
More about JIBAR
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