Harri Vikstedt joined the Bank of Canada in 2006. Currently the Senior Policy Director, Market Committees and Initiatives in the Financial Markets Department, he is focussed on market related issues. Harri co-chairs the Collateral Infrastructure and Market Practices Advisory Group (CIMPA) which is an industry-wide working group created under the Canadian Fixed-Income Forum (CFIF) to promote the well-functioning of the Canadian securities and financing markets.
Prior to this he co-led the Canadian industry’s efforts to transition the financial market from CDOR to CORRA. He was responsible for the Bank’s domestic and foreign currency trading operations until 2017, and for implementing the Bank’s strategy for acquiring and analyzing financial market intelligence.
Harri worked in global financial markets in Europe and North America across both buy- and sell-side roles for 17 years before joining the Bank. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds an MBA in Finance and an engineering degree from the University of Toronto.
Thomas Thorn and Harri Vikstedt examine the efforts being taken internationally and in Canada to enhance the governance and integrity of financial benchmarks. The report provides an overview of how interbank interest rate benchmarks are set and describes the weaknesses in the process that were exposed by the financial crisis. It also explains recent policy developments designed to make global and Canadian interbank benchmarks more robust.
