The transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other IBORs is unlike any previous regulatory reform, it involves a considerable number of moving parts and is a significant technical challenge.
Banks, asset managers and corporates are focussing on the replacement timeline, planning and understanding how to make an orderly transition and Linklaters is working with a range of entities on various aspects of their transition.
Linklaters can support you through your journey or at any stage in relation to each relevant product area, bringing our unrivalled market-leading knowledge of IBOR-related issues, our depth of experience, as well as our track record of running strategic matters driven by regulatory change.
Talk to our team of experts and explore our insights on this topic below.
Global interest rate reform
View our latest Diversity Pay report
In this edition of our annual note, we provide a high-level summary of some of the topics we expect to be on the agenda for mainstream debt issuance from January 2022.
The end of 2021 marked the end, to most intents and purposes, of LIBOR. Once considered so unassailable that few, if any, agreements contemplated its permanent cessation and the initial suggestions of its demise met with incredulity. Read our note for a snapshot of what you need to know on the first London Banking Day after 1 January 2022.
Linklaters has advised the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) on its publication of the 2021 ISDA Interest Rate Derivatives Definitions. These will be published on ISDA’s MyLibrary a new online user interface designed and developed by Linklaters> Nakhoda and Kinetix Trading Solutions.
The Financial Conduct Authority published a consultation paper on 24 June 2021 on its proposed decision to require synthetic LIBOR for 6 sterling and Japanese yen settings.
As the cessation, or loss of representativeness, of each of the 35 LIBOR settings gets ever closer, legislation has now been introduced in each of New York State, the European Union and the United Kingdom, aimed at addressing contractual uncertainty arising in respect of the demise of panel bank LIBOR. In this briefing we provide an overview of the status and scope of each of these legislative solutions.
The derivatives team has put together an animation to draw together developments in the derivatives market as LIBOR enters its final chapter.
In this series of podcasts, experts from Linklaters’ international banking practice consider recent developments in the transition from LIBOR to risk-free rates across different loan markets and the impact on market practice and documentation.
The European Derivatives and Structured Products team hosted a webinar on 4 May 2021 to discuss the newly published IBOR Supplement to the German Master Agreement for Financial Derivatives (DRV) and provide an update on some of the ISDA interest rate reform documents.
The Derivatives and Structured Products team hosted a webinar on 6 May 2021 and discussed the impact of the transition away from LIBOR on new and legacy structured notes and repackagings.
Linklaters has prepared a guide to assist with an understanding of, and key considerations relating to, the ISDA 2020 IBOR Fallbacks Protocol and the Supplement to the 2006 ISDA Definitions which are some of the key documents ISDA has prepared to assist market participants in managing the transition away from IBORs.
Deepak Sitlani, derivatives partner, reflects on our recent global interest rate reform half day seminar and the latest market developments.
16 March 2021
Following the Financial Conduct Authority announcement on 5 March 2021 regarding the future cessation or loss of representativeness of all 35 LIBOR benchmark settings currently published by the IBA the Finance team held this webinar on Monday 15 March to discuss this in the context of the derivatives, structured products, bonds and loans markets.
8 March 2021
The Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) announced on 5 March 2021 the future cessation or loss of representativeness of all 35 LIBOR benchmark settings currently published by IBA (the “FCA Announcement”). The FCA Announcement follows the notification by ICE Benchmark Administration (the “IBA”) to the FCA that it intends to cease providing all LIBOR settings for all currencies, subject to any rights of the FCA to compel IBA to continue publication.
Thursday 21 January 2021, 13:00 to 14:00 GMT
Location: London
The recording and accompanying slides for this webinar can be found in the lower right corner of this page.
9 September 2020
The Derivatives and Structured Products team hosted an interest rate reform webinar on Tuesday 8 September with special guests Jonathan Seymour and George Oomman from Bloomberg.
Wednesday 22 April 2020, 14:00 to 15:00 GMT
Location: Global
On Wednesday 22 April we ran a derivatives and structured products webinar, where we covered the following topic:
Interest rate reform: update on the current state of the transition to RFR including a discussion of recent consultations and other market developments in the context of derivatives.
18 August 2020
Linklaters has advised The International Swaps and Derivatives Association on Version 2 of the ISDA Collateral Agreement Interest Rate Definitions and three forms of amendment agreements.
14 August 2020
“Tough legacy” in the context of the transition away from LIBOR refers to existing LIBOR referencing contracts that are unable, before the end of 2021, to either convert to a non-LIBOR rate or be amended to add fallbacks.
29 June 2020
The International Swaps & Derivatives Association (ISDA), Bloomberg and global law firm Linklaters have today launched a factsheet on IBOR Fallbacks. The guidance provides market participants with an overview of the proposed methodology to calculate adjusted risk-free reference rates (RFR) as fallbacks for key Inter Bank Offer Rates (IBORs). The factsheet also provides guidance on how ISDA will implement the rates in its forthcoming Supplement to the 2006 ISDA Definitions as well as the 2020 IBOR Fallbacks Protocol.
7 June 2019
Reform of LIBOR and other global benchmark rates used in loans and other financial instruments. The transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other IBORs is unlike any previous regulatory reform.