With LIBOR due to disappear by end-2021, work has been underway to facilitate the transition from LIBOR and other IBORs to alternative risk free rates (RFRs). The derivatives market has been at the forefront of the transition and is some distance further ahead than other financial markets. In particular, ISDA has recently published the 2020 … Read more

The cessation of the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) at the end of 2021 has long been an issue vexing the global financial services industry given the scale and geographic spread of exposures to the affected benchmarks across the currencies and terms in which it is published. As we reach what Andrew Bailey, Governor of … Read more

The European Commission has published its proposals for an EU legislative solution for the transition of legacy LIBOR contracts. This announcement follows hot on the heels of recent announcements for similar legislative fixes in the UK (read our blog post: UK Government announces LIBOR legislative fix: summary of proposals and our initial observations) and the … Read more

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published its long-awaited report to the G20 on supervisory issues related to LIBOR transition. It follows a survey of the state of preparedness of regulators around the globe and presents its recommendations. The purpose of this engagement is to facilitate greater coordination on a global level, to mitigate the … Read more

In a written statement on 23 June 2020 made by Rishi Sunak, The Chancellor of the Exchequer, the UK Government has announced its intention to introduce a legislative solution for the transition of so-called “tough legacy” LIBOR-linked products. It intends to include measures in the forthcoming Financial Services Bill to ensure that, by end-2021, the … Read more

The latest development in the Bank of England’s (BoE) attempts to support the adoption of SONIA in cash products – and to speed up the transition away from LIBOR-linked products – is the publication of its response to the consultation it conducted into the publication of a SONIA index: Supporting Risk-Free Rate transition through the … Read more

The UK’s Tough Legacy Taskforce (Taskforce) has issued a paper on “tough legacy” issues in the transition from LIBOR. In an important intervention, it has recommended a legislative fix for all asset classes and possibly all LIBOR currencies. The scope of the recommendation from the Taskforce is wider than many will have expected, but will … Read more

We commented last month on the announcement from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), confirming the preliminary results of its re-consultation on the implementation of pre-cessation fallbacks for derivatives referenced to LIBOR: ISDA pre-cessation fallback consensus: will this reduce legacy LIBOR risk in the derivatives market? ISDA has now published a report summarising the … Read more