Change theme
Change theme

Canadian Alternative Reference Rate Working Group

The Canadian Alternative Reference Rate Working Group (CARR) was created to ensure Canada’s interest rate benchmark regime is robust, relevant and effective in the years ahead. Find more information about our background, market notices, meetings, and membership.

Background

Interest rate benchmarks are a cornerstone of the global financial system and are used by market participants across a wide range of financial products and contracts. In 2013, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) established the Official Sector Steering Group (OSSG) to advise the FSB on recommendations to strengthen existing interbank offered rate benchmarks. This global work is now at a key inflection point with the confirmation that LIBOR, a key global interest rate benchmark, will cease being published at end-2021 (and end-June 2023 for key USD LIBOR tenors). As LIBOR’s cessation nears, global liquidity is expected to shift to products referencing risk-free rates, even in countries like Canada where LIBOR is not a predominant rate.

To coordinate Canadian interest rate reform, Canada established the Canadian Alternative Reference Rate Working Group—sponsored by the Canadian Fixed-Income Forum.

CARR’s primary objectives will be to:

  1. support and encourage the adoption of, and transition to, the Canadian Overnight Repo Rate Average (CORRA) as a key financial benchmark for Canadian derivatives and securities; and
  2. analyze the current status of the Canadian Dollar Offered Rate (CDOR) and its efficacy as a benchmark, as well as make recommendations on the basis of that analysis.

CARR also oversees the CORRA Advisory Group.

Key documents

Access our key documents and other reference material including recommended conventions, fallbacks, webcasts, speeches, and overviews.

Subscribe to News
News

November 30, 2023

CARR amends recommended fallback for CDOR NHA MBS, and publishes a guide for Canadian companies transitioning from CDOR

In 2021, CARR published “Recommended fallback language for FRNs referencing CDOR” which recommended that CDOR-linked floating rate notes (FRNs), including floating rate NHA MBS, fall back from CDOR to a CORRA fallback rate (“Fallback Rate (CORRA)” as defined in the document).

See more

Membership

Co-chairs

Harri Vikstedt

Senior Director, Financial Markets
Bank of Canada


Karl Wildi

Managing Director and Vice-Chair, Global Markets
CIBC Capital Markets


Market representatives

Jason Chang
Alberta Investment Management Corporation

Derek Astley
TD Bank

Elaine Wright
Alcoa Corporation

Jean-Philippe Drolet
National Bank of Canada

Alexander Nicholson
Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Edwin Wong
Ontario Financing Authority

Carol McDonald
Bank of Montreal

Audrey Gaspar
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan

Luke Francis
Brookfield

Andrew Bastien
PSP Investments

Louise Stevens
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Guillaume Pichard
Quebec Ministry of Finance

Karl Wildi
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Bruce Wagner
Rogers Communications

Brent Clode
Central1

Jim Byrd
Royal Bank of Canada

Yassir Berbiche
Desjardins

Anuj Dhawan
Scotiabank

Alan Turner
HSBC

Brett Pacific
Sun Life Financial

Observers

Ann Battle
ISDA

Robert Catani
Montréal Exchange

Philip Whitehurst
LCH

Louise Brinkmann
CanDeal

Joshua Chad
McMillan LLP

Contact

Receive notification by email whenever new CARR material is added to the website.

On this page
Table of contents