Fed’s Williams announces new effort to study reference rates

By Michael S. Derby

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said Thursday his bank is launching a new panel to track how reference rates are used in private markets.

Williams said his bank is launching what he called the Reference Rate Use Committee, which will bring together market participants to “support integrity, efficiency, and resiliency in the use of interest rate benchmarks—or reference rates—across financial markets, including the rates published by the New York Fed.”

He added in the text of a speech prepared for delivery at an event at his bank that the first meeting of this group takes place next month.

The committee will study how reference rates are used by markets and help investors and traders to best use these rates, Williams said.

The official did not comment on the economic or monetary policy outlook in his prepared remarks.