The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ) announced the appointment of Tushar Morzaria as the new Chair of the Sterling Risk Free Reference Rates Working Group (the Working Group) this Monday. He will take up his new role in January of next year.
Morzaria is currently Group Finance Director at Barclays - a position he has held since 2013 when, along with being promoted to his current position, he also joined the bank's Board and Executive Committee.
“I am delighted that Tushar Morzaria has agreed to serve as the new Chair of the UK’s Risk Free Rate Working Group," said Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England. "Tushar takes the mantel of chair at a pivotal time for the transition away from Libor towards new robust RFRs, which can only be achieved with strong direction, broad engagement and clear co-ordination across the financial sector and beyond."
Tushar Morzaria - Receiving the Baton from a Barclays Colleague
Morzaria replaces one of his Barclays colleagues in his new role as Chair of the Working Group. Francois Jourdain, who was Barclays Investment Bank's Chief Compliance Officer until the start of this year, stepped down from his role as Chairman of the Working Group this week - a position he had held since its inception in 2015.
As Chairman, Morzaria will be responsible for guiding the transition from the Libor benchmark rate to SONIA. More specifically, he will act as the lead-man on co-ordinating cross-market work on the transition. Given that the deadline for the transition to SONIA is the end of 2021, and the period of time that Jourdain spent as Chairman, it's not unreasonable to assume that Morzaria will be staying in his role until the transition is complete.
“Financial markets need to move off Libor and on to SONIA and the other chosen Risk Free Rates by end 2021. This transition has begun, but there is much work yet to do," said Andrew Bailey, Chief Executive Officer of the FCA. "I welcome Tushar's agreement to take on this important role co-ordinating and leading the cross market work on transition.”
