Jibar is still referenced by more than R98 trillion of derivatives worldwide, against more than R18.5 trillion for its replacement ZARONIA, Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Rashad Cassim said on 3 November 2026.
Cassim spoke at the 2026 Market Practitioners Group Conference in Sandton, where he announced that the Reserve Bank moved Jibar’s end from 31 December 2026 to 31 May 2027. He put ZARONIA-linked exposures at “over R18.5 trillion” as of September. He described the Jibar number as exposures that “still exceed” R98 trillion, and said “there is still a lot of work ahead”.
Why the date moved
Cassim said the Reserve Bank needs a law for tough legacy contracts, agreements that cannot be amended before Jibar stops. Proposed amendments to the Financial Sector Regulation Act would let authorities designate replacement benchmarks. They are not yet law and still have to pass Parliament and receive presidential assent, and the timing is not certain, he said.
“We have therefore decided it is too risky to continue with the previously announced Jibar cessation date,” he said. Ending Jibar without the legal tools “could be highly disruptive”, he said.
He gave a second reason. Clearing houses must schedule the conversion of outstanding Jibar-linked derivatives to ZARONIA. If that does not line up with the cessation date, he said, parts of the market would move at different times, creating basis, valuation, hedging and operational risks.
Source: Reserve Bank, Deputy Governor Rashad Cassim, 3 November 2026 (both are minimums; ZARONIA figure as of September). Chart: Rand Desk
Some market participants are moving to ZARONIA on their own, Cassim said, and others will move automatically on a designated date. The delay does not reverse the decision to end Jibar, he said, and does not reflect any concern about ZARONIA, which he said is working well, with a small and stable spread to the policy rate.
Prime is next
The Reserve Bank sees the prime lending rate, he said, as a legacy benchmark that is no longer needed. Prime sits a fixed 350 basis points above the Reserve Bank’s policy rate, but banks have always been free to price loans at other spreads, he said. Dropping prime should make loan pricing simpler and more transparent, in his view. The Reserve Bank published a consultation paper on the idea earlier this year.
Bonds and repo
The corporate bond market is too quiet, Cassim said, compared with a large and liquid government bond market. With government bond issuance being reduced, he said, there is more room for private companies to raise money. He also said work with private sector volunteers during the year had produced what he called a rigorous diagnosis of how to improve the repo market, where South Africa’s problem is too little activity rather than too much.
The Reserve Bank, National Treasury and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority will support the parliamentary process, Cassim said. The new Jibar end date is 31 May 2027.
