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March 5, 2021 marks an important day in the LIBOR transition process as the ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA), UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and ISDA made important announcements on the cessation of LIBOR. In recent years the Bank of England and the FCA have made it clear that the lack of an active underlying market makes LIBOR unsustainable and unsuitable for widespread use. As a result, the Bank of England and FCA have worked closely with market participants and other regulatory authorities to ensure alternatives to LIBOR are available and that existing contracts can be transitioned onto these alternatives to safeguard financial stability and market integrity.

With today’s announcements by the IBA, FCA and ISDA, the timeline for the cessation of LIBOR has been fixed.Continue Reading Mark the Date: Important Announcements by IBA, FCA and ISDA

With the end of LIBOR in sight, on January 11, 2021 the Bank of England, FCA and Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates (the Working Group) published a joint statement on the final countdown to the ceasing of publications of all GBP LIBOR settings at the end of 2021 and an updated 2021 Roadmap to assist business in their preparations for the LIBOR transition. Market participant are encouraged to take the Working Group’s updated roadmap into consideration in the transition plans for 2021.
Continue Reading Roadmap to the End of LIBOR – Where Are You?

In a statement made on September 29, 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bank of England endorsed a proposal by the Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates (the Working Group) that the interdealer quoting convention should change such that prices be linked to SONIA, rather than LIBOR. This change was originally to be implemented from March 2, 2020, but has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Continue Reading FCA, Bank of England Urge Shift in Swaps Quoting Conventions to Assist in Transition From LIBOR

As the world continues to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, the end of 2021 deadline for the LIBOR transition has remained unchanged. However, certain deadlines along the way have been extended in recognition of the difficulties that market participants face in these tumultuous times.

In what follows, we explore the current timelines on the path to the transition from LIBOR.Continue Reading Updated LIBOR Transition Timeline in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Update: The Bank of England has delayed the introduction of increased haircuts to apply to all LIBOR linked collateral. For more details, please refer to our July 28 post.

The FCA and the Bank of England (BoE) have encouraged market participants to switch from LIBOR to SONIA from March 2, 2020 in all new trades.  Some market participants have already started referencing RFRs.  For the year to date ending on March 6, 2020 the following notionals* (as published by ISDA) were traded.

RFR Traded Notional Trade Count
SOFR $222.9 billion 998
SONIA $7.1 trillion 6,304
€STR $0.9 billion 16
SARON $4.2 billion 9
TONAR $76.3 billion 178

Continue Reading Recent Commentary from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Bank of England