All of this is extremely useful, but these documents also need to be widely publicised and made available, and this task falls first and foremost to the banks. This should in turn encourage them to make their bank fees and charges more transparent and explicit. 2) Turning now to the Banque de France, we clearly need to provide more help to VSEs before they get into difficulty. Credit mediation is a very effective tool for resolving VSEs financial problems after the fact, and indeed these make up the majority of cases submitted to the mediator. However, it is also important – especially so in my view – that we provide help before this stage, and prevent VSEs from getting into trouble in the first place. We have therefore decided that, in addition to the legal and operational assistance provided via credit mediation, the Banque de France will contribute to this preventive action by appointing a VSE Correspondent in each of its département branches. The role of these correspondents will be to act as a first point of contact for VSEs and listen to their concerns in the capacity of a trusted third-party. They will be responsible for providing information – including the documents I’ve just mentioned – and for broadly identifying the VSEs’ needs. If necessary, and of course only if the VSEs themselves are in agreement, they will also direct them towards the relevant professional networks which can provide appropriate support: approved management centres, institutes of chartered accountants, micro-credit associations, etc.
That new bridge I mentioned a moment ago is up and running. By the end of this month, all lenders should be ready to offer you products linked to SONIA or another non-LIBOR rate. Six or twelve months ago, that wasn’t universally true. Now it is. But don’t just take my word for that. Ask National Express, which took out one of the first SONIA-linked loans.2 Ask Riverside Group, a housing association, which secured a SONIA credit facility during the height of the Covid crisis in early April. 3 Or ask GlaxoSmithKline, which concluded a multi-currency refinanced credit facility linked to both SONIA and its US equivalent SOFR.4  -  Moving away from LIBOR won’t always be easy. But that’s where I come to my third message: which is that you are not in this on your own: for those needing to transition, there is help, and lots of it. The first port of call for most firms should be your own bank, to begin understanding how SONIA can work for your business. But help is also available from many other sources: o  The industry wide Risk Free Rate Working Group has produced educational videos and helpful short guides. These are available on the Bank of England5 and FCA websites and will be sent to everyone attending today’s webinar. o  The Working Group will also be taking forward a programme of engagement with your sector into the end of this year, to help you with transition.