Benchmark fallbacks should be regulated, says industry

Fears of basis risk unless all users are obliged to write backup rates into legacy contracts

Financial market participants don’t usually call for more regulation. But on the thorny matter of benchmark reform, they are prepared to make an exception.

Industry representatives are working to iron out technical challenges in designing and incorporating re-vamped backup plans – required by regulators – to cope when a benchmark reference rate disappears. But they warn about the potential for basis risk between derivatives contracts if regulators don’t force the new clauses into all legacy