info exchange
London joins USD LIBOR panel
Whatis LIBOR?
Howare panelists
selected?
The STIR team in London is well pleased, if not a little smug at the moment.
Following the appointment of London Branch to the LIBOR panels for Sterling,
Canadian dollar, Swiss francs and Japanese yen last year, our people have now
been appointed to the prestigious USD group, edging out very big names in
the process. Colleagues in Utrecht were just as happy when we were appointed
to the official EURIBOR fixing for the euro at the start of 1999.
Tason Van Praagh, STIR's co-head, and
I senior dealer on USD money markets,
Tony Allen, are perhaps more than
pleased with the news that London
Branch has edged out UBS from the most
prestigious I.IBOR panel. Says Van
Praagh, 'This is the primary benchmark
used by banks, securities houses and
investors to Hx the cost of borrowing in
the money, derivatives and capital markets
around the world. Our appointment offi-
cially stamps Rabobank as a major player
in the short-term interest rate markets.'
There are considerable advantages - pri-
marily in customer relations - to LIBOR
appointments. First, they recognize the
contributor's dominant presente in global
short-term money markets. 'The prestige
of being a LIBOR contributor also en-
hances your reputation in dealings with
clients and counterparties,' Van Praagh
explains. 'And that's not only here in
London, but around the world. The US
dollar panel is especially prestigious
Jason van Praagh (left) and Tony Allen
discussing the market before LIBOR setting.
because we're talking about the world's
biggest and most global currency.' The
appointment, which means Rabobank
now sits on five out of a total of seven
LIBOR panels, has also been a consider
able morale booster for the London team.
Comments Tony Allen, 'I think this shows
exactly where we have corne from in just
two years, and exactly where we are going
in the future. There has been a lot of talk
What's NewS Issue 1 January/Februory 2000 I
It's a familiar term in everyone's
vocabulary, but what exactly does
it mean? LIBOR is the British
Bankers' Association (BBA) fixing
of the London Inter-Bank Offered
Rate at 11.00 GMT. It is based on
offered inter-bank deposit ratcs
contributed by selected BBA LIBOR
contributor banks - we are one of
those banks.
Individual contributor panel banks
are selected by the BBA's foreign
exchange and money markets
advisory panel after private
nomination and discussions with
the LIBOR steering group. The
selection is made based on reputa
tion, scale of activity in the London
market and perceived expertise in
the currency concerned as well as
credit standing. Rabobank replaced
UBS in the USD panel...
about Rabobank International, but the
bottom line is that we are a medium sized
bank, and we're now market makers for
the world's top currencies. Yes, we're well
pleased - who wouldn't be?'.
Ifyou would like more info on LIBOR,
check out the British Bankers' Association
website at www.hba.org.uk
Continued front page 6
and Mark Northway.
Another important player
in both deals was
Inge Skjelford, who heads
RI's Washington represen-
tative office and reports
to Streefkerk. Many
Rabobankers are still
unaware of the fact that
we have developed a small
and important presence
on the Washington scene Mark Northway
over the past two years.
Skjelford's task is to find business and
liaise directly with the Washington based
supranationals which, in addition to the
names mentioned
above, also include
the Multilateral
Investment Cïuarantee
Agency, or MIGA
(with which we also
recently concluded a
capital insurance deal
to support business
development in Ar-
gentina and will soon
conclude another for
Rabobank Turkey),
the Institute of Inter
national Finance, the International Invest
ment Corporation, EximBank, and others.
'Washington is really the global center for
this activity and you
need to be here if you
want to develop your
relationships,' Skjelford
says. 'We began here
with the aim of repre-
senting the interests of
emerging markets F&A
through APFT; now,
we're busy leveraging
these relationships for
all of RI to deliver a
broader spectrum of
products and services in
F&A and other core business fields that
demonstrate our product structuring ca-
pabilities and financial markets expertise.'
Inge Skjelford
