Demystifying Corporate Indices and Rate Benchmarks in the Aftermath of LIBOR
The first transition date of June 30th is rapidly approaching and suddenly, urgent questions are being asked about critical deadlines, replacement rates, their impact on valuations and what the conceptual differences are between various benchmarks in play. But one main concern is clear: will any new benchmarks work similarly to LIBOR with minimal disruption and system modification cost to treasury?
The answers may vary greatly depending on the benchmark. Some will require a material financial and human capital investment, others almost none.
Join Bloomberg and LeanUp as they host guests from Citibank, Deloitte and Oliver Wyman to discuss the LIBOR to SOFR transition and their own experiences and guidance when it comes to sorting through the implications of the various new benchmarks.
Speakers
Karl Abdelnour
Director
Citibank
Umesh Gajria
Head of Index-Linked Products
Bloomberg
Umesh Gajria is Global Head of Index-Linked Products at Bloomberg, overseeing index derivative products and analytics. In addition, he leads the firm’s efforts in the transition to Risk Free Rates (RFRs) including ISDA fallbacks. Earlier he served as COO for Bloomberg’s Enterprise Product business, after joining the firm in 2017. Previously, Mr. Gajria was an Executive Director of Global Business Development at CME Group where he led growth initiatives for the Financial Products business. Before that he worked in various roles at US Bank, JP Morgan and Lexis Nexis. Mr. Gajria holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
DAVID MULLEN
Senior Index Business Manager
BLOOMBERG/ 731 LEX
David Mullen is a senior business manager in Bloomberg Index Services Limited. In this role he is responsible for developing the firm’s tools for analyzing Index-Linked products, macro trading strategies and developing the Bloomberg index ecosystem. Mr. Mullen has been with the firm for over 20 years and prior to his current role, he was responsible for developing BSKT – the ETF market’s first electronic Creation/Redemption platform. In addition he has developed FI ETF analytics on the Bloomberg system as well as other credit market tools for relative value analysis, price discovery and key fixed income functionality. Prior to that role he was responsible for developing Bloomberg’s Fixed Income Electronic Trading platform (FIT). He has also functioned as a fixed income Application Specialist and spoken at many industry conferences on how to find value in the fixed income markets. Before joining Bloomberg, he spent several years as a fixed income trader and salesperson at several Wall Street firms including Deutsche Bank, Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette and Prudential Securities.
Bryan Richardson
Founding Partner
LeanUp, LLC
Bryan Richardson is a founding partner of treasury community company, LeanUp LLC, which he started with two others in August, 2018. Prior to LeanUp, Bryan spent 11 years in a leadership role at a similar organization where he launched and facilitated a number of peer communities in the U.S., China, and Singapore. Before entering the peer community business, Bryan was a treasury practitioner himself having held operational roles at Gap, Inc., Kinko’s, Inc., and Baskin Robbins where he was responsible for a variety of treasury related activities. Bryan earned an M.B.A. in finance and international business from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and graduated from Arkansas State University with a bachelor's degree in zoology. He is also a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP). Bryan lives in Little Rock, Arkansas with his wife and son where he enjoys water sports such as sailing, skiing, and fishing.
Adam Schneider
Partner, Retail & Business Banking and Digital
Oliver Wyman
Adam Schneider is a Partner in Oliver Wyman’s Digital and Banking Practices in the Americas. He focuses on large scale transformations in the industry and related development and execution of corporate strategy. Adam has led some of the largest global programs at the world’s major financial institutions. He has worked extensively across most areas of banking, plus asset management, wealth management, and related change programs. His experience includes product development, cost restructuring, technology implementation, merger integration, and response to regulatory reform initiatives. Adam’s background as a technologist and former CTO/COO at an asset management firm helps him provide value as strategy development and implementation became more and more focused on technology capabilities. Convinced that ideas about forward change are critical to success, he previously managed the global eminence and thought leadership program for a major consultancy. Adam is co-leading Oliver Wyman’s support for banks in addressing the LIBOR transition. The enormous economic implications combined with customer and counterparty impact across a broad range of products and processes makes this among the largest challenges the industry has seen in a long time. The need for thoughtful and coordinated responses will be an imperative. As part of this he is driving firm thought leadership on LIBOR. Adam is a firm expert in complex change programs from formulation to execution. He is based in New York and has worked extensively throughout Europe and ASIAPAC.
Alexey Surkov
Partner, Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory
Deloitte
Alexey is a Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory partner leading the Model Risk Management team in Deloitte & Touche LLP. He works primarily in the areas of model risk management, quantitative modeling, valuation, and model validation. For more than 18 years he has assisted a number of clients on projects related to modeling and model validation, specializing in modeling and risk management of complex fixed income, mortgage, equity, foreign exchange, and credit products, as well as modeling of market, counterparty credit, liquidity, and operational risk at large financial institutions.
Yon Valtchev
Corporate Fixed Income & Rates Specialist
Bloomberg LP
Yon Valtchev spent the last 7 years at Bloomberg focusing on Fixed Income, Credit and Rates and working closely with Corporate Treasury Management on related process improvement and automation. Prior to Bloomberg Yon spent 20+ years at several top tier banks in roles ranging from Cross-Asset trading, to Credit and Market Risk Management.