STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish banks will look at ways to revamp Stibor, an interbank rate used as a reference for billions of crowns of financial contracts, the Swedish Banker's Association said on Tuesday, after worries about transparency and governance.
Concerns about international reference rates surfaced after the financial crisis and a number of banks were fined billions of dollars for trying to rig the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor.
Sweden's central bank launched an investigation into Stibor in 2012 and though it said it had not found evidence of manipulation, it warned that the Swedish system lacked transparency and a clear governance framework.
Sweden's Banking Association said its working group would investigate alternatives to Stibor, partly because it gives a poor reflection of actual interbank transactions, echoing similar initiatives for the dollar, pound and the euro.
The Swedish working group consists of the participating banks, the Swedish Central Bank, the National Debt Office and Financial Supervisory Authority.