Duane Morris Banking and Finance Law

November 11, 2021 by Natalie A. Stewart

LIBOR Transition: Synthetic Sterling LIBOR for limited tough legacy loans

As the cessation of LIBOR panels draws closer, the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) has been looking at ways to mitigate market disruption in respect of tough legacy loans which link to LIBOR but expire after LIBOR is discontinued. As a result, the FCA will require ICE Benchmark Administration to publish a synthetic Sterling LIBOR for the duration of 2022.

Despite at first instance appearing to be a solution for products which have yet to be amended for the cessation of LIBOR, synthetic LIBOR is only intended to be used for certain tough legacy contracts. To learn more about how synthetic LIBOR will work in practice and the legacy contracts which are likely to be able to utilize synthetic LIBOR, check out our Alert here.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, Phuong (Michelle) Ngo and Natalie A. Stewart.

October 13, 2021October 13, 2021 by Phuong (Michelle) Ngo

LIBOR Transition: Drama Continues for BSBY

As Bloomberg and banks like Bank of America in the US and DBS Bank in Singapore continue to push forward with BSBY, IOSCO last month rattled its saber with a statement on credit sensitive rates, highlighting the importance of choosing alternative financial benchmarks that are compliant with the IOSCO Principles. The last volley in the continuing back and forth between regulators and proponents of new credit sensitive rates came in July, when Bloomberg tried to address some of the volume and manipulation concerns raised by SEC Chair Gary Gensler and others with BSBY.

The IOSCO statement counters that with a caution that IOSCO compliance is not a one-time test, and even if trading volumes are sufficient for current volumes of loans in such benchmarks, loan volume should not be permitted to grow if it outpaces increases in underlying trading volumes and are unable to be resilient. BSBY is not mentioned by name, but it has been the primary subject of attention.

Two weeks after IOSCO published its cautionary statement, Gensler spoke at the ARRC’s fifth session of The SOFR Symposium: The Final Year, responding to Bloomberg’s July report that it “could not address the main concern that the rate is built off of too thin a market.” Gensler reiterated that that he did not “believe BSBY is, as FSB urged, ‘especially robust,’” adding that, “I don’t believe it meets IOSCO’s 2013 standards.”

Unless regulators back up their words with actions, this drama is mostly noise, and lenders are free to continue to make BSBY loans. Whether they will be successful will depend in part on whether borrowers perceive BSBY as a better deal. For legacy LIBOR loans, the spread adjustment added to the interest rate to transition to SOFR has been set by market convention—about 11.5 basis points for a 1 month term, 26bps for 3 months and 43bps for 6 months. This adjustment reflects that LIBOR is an unsecured rate that is sensitive to fluctuations in credit risk while SOFR is a secured, relatively stable “risk free” rate. Since BSBY is also based on unsecured transactions, there should not be a need to add much, if any, spread adjustment to transition from LIBOR to BSBY. This lower spread could be attractive to borrowers if they believe that over time, the variable credit sensitivity of BSBY will not cause the rate to rise, relative to SOFR, more than the fixed SOFR spread adjustment.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, and Phuong (Michelle) Ngo.

October 8, 2021 by Michael A. Witt

Cryptocurrency Issues for Lenders and Borrowers: How to Proceed In the Absence of Industry Clarity

States are beginning to recognize cryptocurrency as a form of collateral under their Uniform Commercial Codes. As a result, commercial lenders and borrowers are learning more about their legal rights in cryptocurrency. Of particular concern for borrowers and lenders alike is the enforceability of a security interest on cryptocurrency as collateral. Forty-seven U.S. states have not passed legislation on cryptocurrency as an asset category, whereas Texas, Rhode Island and Wyoming have passed cryptocurrency legislation. These three states call cryptocurrency, “Virtual Currency”. The collateral is defined in Texas, for example, as “digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, unit of account, and/or store of value and is often secured using blockchain technology”. To perfect its lien in cryptocurrency, a secured lender can file a financing statement or execute a “control” agreement. That said, it is unclear whether filing a financing statement is sufficient to put prospective secured parties on notice of a then-existing lien. As such, until the industry gains clarity on this matter, lenders need to perfect via “control” to have any certainty in the viability of the priority of their security interest.

Even how a lender goes about “controlling” Virtual Currency, though – which is also a perfection method for asset types such as deposit accounts and investment property – is less than crystal clear at this point. For a user to access cryptocurrency, one needs what is called a private “key.” As such, some prospective lender in this space might require possession of that private key as a condition to funding. However, unless a borrower does not plan to access its cryptocurrency during the course of a loan, from a practical matter, it seems unlikely that a borrower would want to give up its private key. Some industry experts have discussed similar control mechanisms that secured lenders use for deposit account collateral or other receivables, such as deposit account control agreements or source code escrow agreements. Still, until those control mechanisms make their way through the court system, it is impossible to know with any degree of certainty how those methods would work and if they would achieve the requisite “control” under the new law.

For further guidance, please check this space regularly, subscribe to our blog or reach out to Michael Witt or Max Fargotstein.

September 22, 2021September 21, 2021 by Phuong (Michelle) Ngo

LIBOR Transition: Derivatives News from CME Group

CME Group, the Term SOFR administrator, recently made a couple of important announcements. First, its Term SOFR data are now available for licensing for use in cash market financial products and OTC derivative products. Until now CME Group previously limited Term SOFR data to making loans. Their terms of use, which did not allow the data to be used for Term SOFR derivatives, have been updated with details on licensing.

Of equal importance, BSBY futures are live. As a complement to BSBY futures and SOFR-based offerings, CME Group also announced that it will launch Cleared BSBY swaps for both outright OIS and basis swaps beginning November 15, subject to regulatory review.

An active derivatives market is crucial to the development of Term SOFR and BSBY. With the availability of Term SOFR swaps, Term SOFR seems poised to replace LIBOR as the dominant rate in the loan market. As we discussed in our prior Alert, regulators, and SEC chair Gary Gensler in particular, have expressed considerable reservations with BSBY. It will be interesting to see how trading and loan volume in both rates develop.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, and Phuong (Michelle) Ngo.

September 21, 2021 by Phuong (Michelle) Ngo

LIBOR Transition: The first syndicated SOFR loan is here!

We knew it was coming, but it finally happened.

Ford Motor Co. announced in June their intention to refinance $15.4 billion in syndicated facilities — and at least some of them on SOFR. With all eyes on what would be the first syndicated U.S. corporate loan tied to regulators’ preferred LIBOR replacement, Ford formally launched the deal this month. Bloomberg reported that there are three revolver tranches that Ford is refinancing (with JPMorgan Chase & Co. leading the loan process): a $3.35 billion three-year portion, a $2 billion three-year tranche and a $10.05 billion five-year portion. Ford’s loan is using Simple SOFR, and not Term SOFR endorsed by the ARRC earlier this summer.

This first syndicated loan originated on SOFR has marked a milestone in the transition away from LIBOR. And as the transition gains steam, more SOFR loans are expected to come in the last quarter of the year.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, and Phuong (Michelle) Ngo.

August 6, 2021 by Phuong (Michelle) Ngo

LIBOR Transition: Term SOFR Formally Recommended… All Done?

On July 22, 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (ARRC) followed up on its guidance from June and its confirmation on July 19 by formally recommending CME Group’s forward-looking SOFR term rates. After a roller coaster ride earlier this year, the messaging of the ARRC on Term SOFR settled down. Other than the mystery as to exactly when the announcement would be made, the statement was practically a nonevent. Proactive lenders that have been waiting patiently were quietly preparing their Term SOFR loan forms over the past few weeks. A flurry of new Term SOFR loans should not be far behind.

With this development, it might seem that the market has all the tools that it needs to transition to SOFR. Time for high-fives and a victory lap!

Not so fast. As those who have been living through the transition over the past few years can attest, there is always another issue to address. In this case, it’s interest rate swaps. Check out our recent Alert for a discussion on this issue.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, and Phuong (Michelle) Ngo.

August 5, 2021August 6, 2021 by Phuong (Michelle) Ngo

LIBOR Transition: What’s a Borrower to Do?

So far, much of the focus has been on getting lenders to stop originating LIBOR loans in favor of loans based on alternative, risk-free rates. As we get closer to that becoming a reality on a broad scale, it’s worth taking a look at the issue from a borrower’s perspective. Borrowers have no say in the phaseout of LIBOR, but to varying degrees they will have a say in which alternative rates will become prevalent in the market.

To learn about what a borrower should do in light of the availability of alternative reference rates in the very near future, check out our Alert here.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, and Phuong (Michelle) Ngo.

June 25, 2021 by Phuong (Michelle) Ngo

LIBOR Transition: Release the CRITR?

It doesn’t sound quite as scary as the mythical monster from Scandinavian folklore, but it’s not intended to be. CRITR is not a complete game changer in LIBOR transition or trying to be one. What is it then?

The Credit Inclusive Term Rate (CRITR) and the spread only Credit Inclusive Term Spread (CRITS) are the latest products of IHS Markit, a $44 billion company that is set to merge with S&P Global later this year. IHS Markit initially developed CRITS to provide the market with an alternative credit sensitive spread over SOFR. When Term SOFR failed to materialize, it developed CRITR as a standalone credit sensitive rate with forward looking tenors similar to LIBOR.

In a crowded field with Ameribor and BSBY in addition to SOFR, and Term SOFR likely coming by the end of July, and regulators expressing concern about rates other than SOFR, and borrowers not too keen on credit sensitive rates, is there room for a new rate option? Interest rates are a diverse, multi trillion dollar market, and even a small sliver of it can be lucrative if the rates take hold. Is it right for you? We discuss CRITR and CRITS in more detail in our recent Alert.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, and Phuong (Michelle) Ngo.

June 24, 2021 by Roger S. Chari

LIBOR Transition: News Flash- Borrowers Don’t Like Volatile, Credit Sensitive Rates

So far, much of the emphasis on LIBOR transition has been on lenders. As we all wait for alternative rates to hit the market, the Association for Financial Professionals, the National Association of Corporate Treasurers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined in a letter to voice the concerns that borrowers have about the pace of the roll out to the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the SEC and the CFTC.

This message isn’t surprising, but the letter contained another component that is worth highlighting. When asked if they prefer SOFR or “potential credit sensitive rates that could move up like LIBOR has done in times of economic stress”, roughly 85% of borrowers surveyed chose SOFR. Put that way, it’s surprising that even 15% of borrowers preferred credit sensitive rates.

Is this the death knell for credit sensitive rates like Ameribor and BSBY before they even get off the ground? Should borrowers really pick only SOFR? The answers are not as simple as they may seem. In our recent Alert, we discuss some of the considerations that borrowers, and lenders that are planning in earnest to offer credit sensitive alternative rates, should keep in mind.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, and Phuong (Michelle) Ngo.

June 24, 2021 by Roger S. Chari

LIBOR Transition: Regulator Comments- LIBOR is Dead, BSBY is in Trouble, and Ameribor Gets a Pass

Top regulators from the SEC, the OCC, the CFTC, the Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury spoke in unison at an eventful meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Counsel on June 11, 2021.

Key takeaways:

(1) if you are a regulated bank that is delaying transition in hope that alternatives to SOFR will develop, the OCC is coming for you. The warning was expressed in more cordial terms than that, but no one wants to be unprepared when the OCC comes knocking.

(2) The chair of the SEC, who was also the co-chair of the IOSCO group that wrote the 2013 IOSCO principles by which replacement rate benchmarks are measured, doesn’t believe that Bloomberg’s BSBY rate meets the standard. This bluntly worded statement is at odds with the self-certification by Bloomberg, which was confirmed by an “assurance review” of an unnamed “global, independent accounting firm” in April. Awkward, to say the least.

(3) Although not mentioned by name, Ameribor appeared to get a pass, at least for now. Lenders and borrowers in non-capital markets are free to choose among rates that meet their needs, as long as it’s not BSBY. So are lenders and borrowers in the capital markets, as long as it’s SOFR.

The actual prepared statements are more engaging and provide useful insight. We take a deeper dive in our recent Alert.

Duane Morris’ LIBOR Transition Team: Roger S. Chari, Chair, Joel N. Ephross, Amelia (Amy) H. Huskins, and Phuong (Michelle) Ngo.