LIBOR Transition: Feedback from FCA Consultation on Synthetic LIBOR

Further to our recent blog post on synthetic LIBOR, the Financial Conduct Authority (the “FCA”) has published its feedback statement on its consultation regarding the legacy use of 1, 3 and 6 month sterling LIBOR from 1 January 2022. The feedback consisted of 36 responses from market participants, with the majority of respondents agreeing with all aspects of the FCA’s proposals. The FCA has confirmed that it will permit legacy use of synthetic Sterling LIBOR by supervised entities, aside from cleared derivatives.

The FCA confirmed that one, three and six-month synthetic Sterling LIBOR will be calculated as the sum of the applicable one, three or six-month Term SONIA Reference Rates provided by IBA and the fixed spread adjustment applicable as part of the ISDA IBOR fallback for one, three or six-month Sterling LIBOR, which is published for the purposes of the ISDA IBOR Fallbacks Supplement and Protocol. IBA will be required to continue publishing synthetic Sterling LIBOR for all applicable London business days, except London public holidays.

It is of note that some market participants queried the use of forward-looking term RFR as a component for synthetic LIBOR, suggesting the use of RFRs “in-arrears” instead in order to align with ISDA fallbacks. The FCA’s response to this suggestion was that RFRs “in-arrears” are not suitable for contracts which require the interest rate to be identified up-front, and as such contracts are not realistically able to be amended to work using RFRs “in-arrears”, the use of such rates in the calculation of synthetic LIBOR could have the potential to cause market disruption.

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

 

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The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the author and are not to be construed as legal advice.

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