On 19 July 2022, the Federal Reserve Board (the “Board”) published a notice of proposed rulemaking – Regulation Implementing the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act, as it was required to do by Section 110[1] of the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act (the “LIBOR Act”),[2] which was signed into law on 15 March 2022.[3]

In its related press release, the Board notes, “Consistent with the [LIBOR Act], the proposal would replace references to LIBOR in certain contracts with the applicable Board-selected replacement rate after June 30, 2023. The contracts include those governed by [US] law that do not mature before LIBOR ends and that lack adequate fallback provisions. The proposal identifies separate Board-selected replacement rates for derivatives transactions, contracts where a government-sponsored enterprise is a party, and all other affected contracts. As required by the [LIBOR Act], each proposed replacement rate is based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate.”Continue Reading Switching to SOFR: Proposed Rule Published to Implement the 2022 Federal LIBOR Act

Market participants have been warned not to kid themselves. The last remaining settings of the London InterBank Offered Rate—those relating to select US Dollar tenors—are scheduled to become unavailable following publication on 30 June 2023. After this final USD LIBOR publication, the sunsetting of “the world’s most important number” will be complete.Continue Reading No foolin’: USD LIBOR to sunset one year from today

With the inclusion of the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act (the “LIBOR Act”) as Division U of H.R. 2471, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (the “Appropriations Act”) passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on 9 March 2022 and the Senate on 10 March 2022, the United States is on the cusp of a federal solution for legacy LIBOR-linked contracts that contain inadequate fallback provisions, or none at all. Indeed, the final version of the legislation provides additional legal certainty with respect to the use of non-SOFR benchmarks not included in the earlier version of the legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Continue Reading Consolidated Appropriations Act Advances Federal LIBOR Transition Solution

The version of the proposed federal Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act of 2021 that was introduced in the House of Representative in 2020 mirrored, with a handful of notable exceptions, both the substance and the text of the analogous New York State legislation that became law on 6 April 2021 (the New York statute is included as a new article 18-C of the General Obligations Law).  However, the text of the proposed federal statute that the House Committee on Financial Services ordered reported to full House on 28 July of this year differs markedly from the New York statute.
Continue Reading A Closer Look at the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act of 2021

Despite recent regulatory “encouragement” to adopt SOFR as “preferred” by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), we continue to observe credit agreements in the US loan markets that use a credit-sensitive alternative rate (CSR) to SOFR.

In fact, a recent check of public filings showed eight reported credit agreements that used a CSR, specifically the

On 21 July 2021, the U.S. Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”) announced the publication of conventions and use cases for employing Term SOFR, as produced by CME Group, in transitioning loan products away from LIBOR. Although the ARRC has not yet recommended the use of Term SOFR, it published these new resources in anticipation of announcing shortly a formal recommendation for the use of Term SOFR “across financial markets.”

While generally helpful to support a smooth transition, the ARRC noted that Term SOFR will be especially helpful in the business loans market, particularly multi-lender facilities, middle market loans, and trade finance facilities, as well as in limited cases of hedges and securitizations tied to term rates.Continue Reading Almost Time for Term SOFR

By now most, if not all, financial market participants know that the recommended alternative for the London InterBank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) for U.S. Dollars is the Secured Overnight Funding Rate (“SOFR”). Many also are aware that, in addition to SOFR, five additional benchmark rates and/or spread adjustments have been proposed to replace LIBOR. These alternative benchmarks generally capture the cost of unsecured bank borrowing, which is the cost that LIBOR also reflects and which is a rate that is more relevant to the way many banks fund themselves than SOFR, which is a secured overnight rate based on transactions in U.S. Treasury securities.
Continue Reading Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Muse; Which LIBOR Alternative Shall I Choose?

In a flurry of legislative activity on 24 March 2021, the New York State Senate and Assembly passed bills that, once signed by Governor Cuomo, will facilitate the transition from LIBOR of “tough legacy” contracts that are governed by New York law and that do not include adequate interest rate fallback provisions that contemplate a

On 5 March 2021, ICE Benchmark Administration (“IBA”), the administrator of LIBOR, released the much anticipated feedback statement (“Cessation Statement”) reporting the results of its 4 December 2020 Consultation on Potential Cessation. IBA consulted on the issue of LIBOR publication cessation because “a majority of LIBOR panel banks had communicated to IBA that they would not be willing to continue contributing to the relevant LIBOR settings after [the proposed cessation] dates.” Pursuant to the Cessation Statement, IBA intends to cease publication of (i) all GBP, EUR, CHF and JPY LIBOR settings, and the 1 Week and 2 Month USD LIBOR settings immediately following the LIBOR publication on 31 December 2021, and (ii) the Overnight and 1, 3, 6 and 12 Month USD LIBOR settings immediately following the LIBOR publication on 30 June 2023, subject to any rights of the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), the regulatory supervisor of IBA, to compel IBA to continue publication using a changed methodology. Individual non-confidential responses to the consultation, of the 55 responses received, can be viewed on the IBA website.
Continue Reading IBA Sets LIBOR Publication Cessation Dates and Triggers a LIBOR Transition Event

With 2021 in full swing, we have received a number of queries from our clients trying to sort out the competing recommended best practice milestones for preparing for the transition from LIBOR to alternative reference rates. To assist in this analysis, we have prepared a matrix—Summary of LIBOR Transition Recommendations for Key LIBOR Currencies—setting forth