On 15 December 2021, the Critical Benchmarks (References and Administrators’ Liability) Bill received Royal Assent becoming the Critical Benchmarks (References and Administrators’ Liability) Act 2021.
Our earlier blog on the Bill can be found here.
On 8 December 2021, Edwin Schooling Latter, Director of Markets and Wholesale Policy and Wholesale Supervision at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), delivered a speech at Risk.net’s LIBOR telethon.
Highlights from the speech include:
On 18 November 2021, the House of Commons’ library issued a research briefing paper on the Critical Benchmarks (References and Administrators’ Liability) Bill.
The Bill has four clauses. Clauses 1 and 2 contain the substantive provisions. Clause 3 deals with consequential matters and clause 4 deals with interpretation, territorial extent and the Bill’s title.
Clause
On 16 November 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a letter from James von Moltke, the Chairman of the EURO Risk Free Rates Working Group (RFR WG), to the European Commission, regarding discussions on the potential designation of statutory replacement rates for GBP LIBOR and JPY LIBOR.
Among
On 16 November 2021, the FCA issued a new webpage confirming that it will allow the temporary use of ‘synthetic’ sterling and yen LIBOR rates in all legacy LIBOR contracts, other than cleared derivatives, that have not been changed at or ahead of end-31 December 2021.
On the webpage the FCA has also issued ‘Article
On 15 October 2021, the FCA published a new webpage listing questions and answers for firms related to the use of its powers under the UK Benchmarks Regulation (BMR), and publications on 29 September 2021, to help manage an orderly wind-down of LIBOR.
The following are key questions covered on the webpage:
On 14 October 2021, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a thematic note on the transition risks of benchmark rates, as LIBOR (the London International Offered Rate) and EONIA (the Euro Overnight Index Average) are being phased out.
Key points in the thematic note include:
On 15 October 2021, the FCA published Policy Statement 21/13: LIBOR transition and the derivatives trading obligation (PS21/13). PS21/13 follows Consultation Paper 21/22: LIBOR transition and the derivatives trading obligation.
In PS21/13 the FCA sets out its finalised amendments to the UK Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the derivatives trading
On 4 October 2021, the ISDA issued a product table for RFR conventions and IBOR fallbacks.
The table is intended to help counterparties understand how the fallbacks would function in their legacy and new derivatives that reference IBORs. It sets out how fallbacks in ISDA’s amended documentation (without reference to the 2021 ISDA Interest Rate
On 29 September 2021, the FCA issued a statement on its website stating that sterling, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and euro LIBOR panels are ceasing on 31 December 2021. The FCA also confirms that to avoid disruption to legacy contracts that reference the 1-, 3- and 6-month sterling and Japanese yen LIBOR settings, it will