US Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Randal Quarles Discusses the SOFR Reference Rate

U.S. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Vice Chairman for Supervision, Randal Quarles, discussed the evolution of reference rates at the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) Roundtable at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Vice Chairman Quarles stated his view that certain markets relevant to some LIBOR tenors are relatively illiquid. He contrasted this with the newly established secured overnight financing rate (SOFR). SOFR is the product of a collaborative effort by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Office of Financial Research, and was created in response to the ARRC's interest in establishing a Treasury repo rate benchmark that would span the widest possible scope of the market. Vice Chairman Quarles further noted that the implementation timetable for SOFR is ahead of schedule, that market participants have begun offering clearing of SOFR overnight index and basis swaps, and that futures markets for SOFR have been introduced on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

View full text of Vice Chairman Quarles’s remarks.