Andrew Bailey: Libor - entering the endgame

Speech by Mr Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, at a Bloomberg Webinar, London and New York City, 13 July 2020.

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

Introduction

"'The passing of summer,' I thought. 'There can be no summer in this land without cricket.'" So wrote the journalist and author Neville Cardus.1 Covid has deprived us of many aspects of our communal lives this year. It has meant no cricket for us until last week, and in the US still no baseball. And to prove that we share an obsession with summer pastimes, a former colleague from many years ago when I was seconded to the New York Fed gave me a book to read called 'How Life Imitates the World Series'.

Sadly, my speech cannot match that for importance. But a more recent summer tradition has been speaking on Libor, a now annual event for the past few years - but one I do not expect to be a permanent fixture.

The time is fast approaching to draw stumps on the Libor benchmark, or for those to whom cricket is a mystery - after all not everyone appreciates a sport that can last five days and still end in a draw - we will soon be at the bottom of the ninth for Libor. Though from experience, I know the bottom of the ninth can last for eternity in a close baseball game.