Thirteen years after the creation of the eurozone killed off the interbank lending market in pesetas, the Banco de España continues to publish a daily estimate for the Madrid Interbank Offered Rate. 在欧元的诞生消灭了比塞塔（西班牙原来使用的货币——译者注）银行间拆借市场13年后，西班牙央行(Banco de España)还在继续公布马德里银行间同业拆借利率(Mibor)每日估值。

That is because Mibor is still the legal reference rate for floating rate Spanish mortgages issued before 2000. 这是因为，Mibor目前仍是2000年之前发放的西班牙浮动利率贷款的法定参考利率。

The problem of such long-life contracts will be even more extreme if governments heed calls this week from top US regulator Gary Gensler to scrap Libor and all the other interbank lending rates that are not closely linked to real transactions. 如果各国政府听从了本周美国商品期货交易委员会(CFTC)主席加里•根斯勒(Gary Gensler)的建议，那么这种长期合约将面临更加严峻的问题。根斯勒呼吁，应废除所有那些不与实际交易紧密挂钩的银行间拆借利率，比如伦敦银行间同业拆借利率(Libor)。

More than $350tn in contracts around the world depend on Libor, ranging from retail mortgages and student loans, to buyout financing and complex derivatives. 全球有价值逾350万亿美元的合约参考Libor，从零售抵押贷款和学生贷款合约，到收购融资合约和各种复杂的衍生品合约。

Some of those contracts evaporate overnight, while others are supposed to last for decades. 其中一些合约隔夜失效，其他一些合约则应会持续几十年。

Faith in interbank rates has been shaken by a wide-ranging global scandal that has already seen three banks pay $2.6bn in penalties for rate-rigging, while nearly a dozen other groups are still under investigation. 一桩波及面广的全球丑闻损害了银行间贷款利率的信誉。随着丑闻的发酵，目前已有3家银行因操纵利率被处以罚款，罚金总计26亿美元，另外还有近12家银行仍在接受调查。

When Barclays first admitted to wrongdoing last summer, regulators, bankers and politicians promised to fix the rate-setting process to prevent a repeat of the scandal. 当巴克莱(Barclays)去年夏季首次承认自己存在不当行为时，监管机构、银行家和政界都承诺调整Libor确定方法，以杜绝丑闻重演。

But opinion has shifted markedly in recent months, and moves are under way to do away with the “ibors” entirely. 但最近几个月以来，舆论的风向显著改变。如今，人们正采取措施，试图彻底废除这些银行间拆借利率。

The central criticism rests on the fact that Libor, Euribor and the rest are calculated by asking banks to estimate their daily unsecured borrowing costs, rather than relying on actual transactions as equity market indices such as the FTSE 100 do. Libor和欧元银行间同业拆借利率(Euribor)等银行间拆借利率受到诟病的主要原因在于，这些利率是通过银行提交的无担保拆借成本每日估值计算出来的，而不是像富时100(FTSE 100)等股指那样，通过实际交易数据计算出来。

Libor rates have had this problem from the start. Back in the 1970s, the syndicated loans market needed a reference point and there was not a liquid market to provide reliable prices. So the British Bankers’ Association used estimates to supplement actual lending and other countries followed suit. Libor从诞生那一刻起就面临这个问题。回溯到上世纪70年代，当时银团贷款市场需要一个参考利率，但没有一个流动性市场可以提供可靠价格。因此英国银行家协会(British Bankers’ Association)使用了估值，以填补实际借贷数据的空白。其他国家也纷纷效仿。

Unsecured interbank lending dried up completely during the 2007-8 financial crisis and the “Basel III” reform package boosted capital and liquidity requirements for such lending to such an extent that analysts believe the market will never come back. 在2007年至2008年金融危机期间，无担保银行间拆借完全消失。《巴塞尔协议III》(Basel III)改革计划也提高了针对银行间拆借的资本金和流动性要求。分析师认为，新规会让银行间拆借市场永无可能重见天日。

“Having benchmark rates that are not anchored in actual transactions undermines market integrity and leaves the financial system with benchmarks that are prone to misconduct,” says Gary Gensler, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a leading proponent of replacing Libor. 加里•根斯勒表示：“以一种不与实际交易挂钩的利率为基准利率，会损害市场的健全，并让金融体系面临基准利率可能受到不当行为干扰的风险。”他是支持替换Libor的主要人物。

He finds it curious that Libor remained stable during the recent Cyprus banking crisis while credit default swaps and other market indicators swung sharply. The question is what to do instead. 根斯勒认为，在最近的塞浦路斯银行业危机期间，信用违约互换(CDS)市场和其他市场指标大幅波动之际，Libor仍保持稳定，这颇为古怪。现在的问题在于，拿什么来取代Libor。

A task force convened by the Bank for International Settlements has called for shifting to more reliable reference rates that would be less linked to bank credit risk and, ideally, less volatile in stressed market conditions. The group also called for a wider variety of indices. 国际清算银行(BIS)召集的一个工作小组已发出呼吁，用一些更可靠的参考利率取代Libor，这些利率与银行信贷风险关联较小，最好还能在市场情况紧张时保持较强稳定性。该小组还呼吁，增加作为参考利率的指数品种。

“Having the choice among a number of reliable reference rates would enable market participants to select those which are most consistent with their needs, and thus enhance the resilience of the financial system,” the group wrote. 该小组写道：“如果有多种可靠参考利率可供选择，市场参与者就能够选择那些与自己需求最一致的作参考，这会增强金融体系的弹性。”

The BIS specifically suggested looking at overnight index swaps and general collateralised lending rates as possible substitutes for interbank rates. 国际清算银行特别建议，将隔夜指数掉期利率和一般抵押贷款利率作为替代银行间拆借利率的可能选择。

OIS are based on the average of where the market expects the US federal funds rate will trade over a certain period of time, while the GC repo rate is the rate at which banks can finance themselves through repurchase transactions involving Treasury securities. 隔夜指数掉期利率(OIS)，是基于市场对美国联邦基金利率在一定时间内预测值的平均值。一般抵押品回购利率(GC repo rate，以下简称：回购利率)，是银行通过国债等回购交易为自己融资的利率。

The latter has some advantages. 回购利率具备一些优势。

“OIS makes less sense for swaps as they are a derivative themselves and are also based on a market – the effective fed funds rate – where liquidity is poor,” says Ira Jersey, interest rate strategist at Credit Suisse. “GC repo is a better option as it’s a market generated rate, very liquid and represents the cost of funding.” “隔夜指数掉期利率对掉期交易指导意义不大，因为隔夜指数掉期本身属于衍生品，而且还基于一个流动性较差的市场（相当于实际的联邦基金利率）。”瑞信(Credit Suisse)利率策略师艾拉•泽西(Ira Jersey)表示，“回购利率是个更好的选择，因为它由市场产生，流动性非常强，能反映出融资成本。”

The OIS curve might also prove too volatile for comfort. “History suggests that when cash markets become strapped for liquidity, OIS and cash market yield curves increasingly diverge. The OIS curve may only represent an uncertain proxy for the cash market,” says Kevin Milne, chief executive of benchmark provider Rate Validation Services. 隔夜指数掉期利率曲线可能还被证明波动性过强，不让人放心。基准利率提供商Rate Validation Services首席执行官凯文•米尔恩(Kevin Milne)表示：“历史情况显示，当现金市场出现流动性紧张时，隔夜指数掉期利率曲线和现金市场收益率曲线就会出现越大越大的背离。隔夜指数掉期利率曲线对现金市场的反映可能是不可靠的。”

Both indices also focus on very short-term lending, mainly overnight or for 48 hours. “OIS and repo are good rates but don’t necessarily tell us how to fix three or six month loans,” says David Clark, chairman of the Wholesale Markets Brokers’ Association, a UK trade group. “You’ve got this vacuum being filled by Libor today.” 另外，这两个指标都关注于超短期贷款，主要是隔夜贷款或48小时贷款。“隔夜指数掉期利率和回购利率都不错，但它们不一定能为确定3个月或6个月贷款的利率提供参考，”英国贸易团体——批发市场经纪人协会(Wholesale Markets Brokers’ Association)主席戴维•克拉克(David Clark)表示，“现有的其他利率都无法取代Libor、发挥与Libor同样的作用。”

Rates linked to the prices of US Treasuries or UK gilts are another option and they have the advantage of being linked to a market that is very stable, very liquid and extremely hard to manipulate. 与美国国债或英国金边债券(Gilt)价格挂钩的利率是另外一种选择。这些利率的优势在于，与它们挂钩的市场非常稳定、流动性很高，并且极难被操纵。

But lenders may be reluctant to use them because the spread between bank borrowing costs and government securities can vary considerably. 但借款者可能不愿使用这些利率，因为银行借款成本与政府证券之间可能存在巨大息差。

Once a substitute is picked, shifting will take time. While swaps could phase in a new benchmark relatively easily, the $1tn in floating rate loans and other debt securities may be harder. 选定替代Libor的利率之后，市场将需要一段过渡时间。适应新的基准利率对掉期交易而言可能相对容易，而对总计1万亿美元的浮动利率贷款和其他证券而言可能比较困难。

“The question then is do you keep on submitting Libor quotes or ask all issuers and investors to change over to a new reference rate. It’s not just a contract. It’s a debenture, which requires a majority of owners to agree to change,” says Mr Jersey. “Doing this is not operationally trivial.” “接下来的问题在于，你是继续提交Libor报价，还是要求所有贷款发放者和投资者改用新的参考利率。这不只是一份合约的问题，而是关乎债券，改用新的参考利率需要大多数债权人同意。”泽西表示，“从操作上来讲，这是项不小的工程。”