In a highly anticipated move today, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee formally recommended CME Group as the administrator for a Secured Overnight Financing Rate term rate—a major milestone in the transition away from Libor.
The American Bankers Association and a coalition of financial trade groups wrote in support today of the Adjustable Interest Rate (Libor) Act to address “tough legacy” contracts that currently reference Libor but lack adequate fallback language and can’t be amended to add it.
With the transition away from Libor now well underway, BAFT, the American Bankers Association subsidiary association for international transaction banking, and two other trade finance groups today published a new report discussing potential implications for the trade finance industry.
Today marked the start of the first phase of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s “SOFR First” initiative, which it recommended for switching trading conventions from Libor to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee’s preferred Libor alternative, and by some measures, SOFR swaps accounted for 50% of total activity.
The Alternative Reference Rates Committee today made two significant announcements today. In the first, the ARRC recommended conventions and use cases for employing the forward-looking Secured Overnight Financing Rate term rates that are expected to be formally recommended by the ARRC in the coming days.
In a joint statement today, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission’s Market Participants Division and Division of Market Oversight emphasized to market participants and swap execution facilities the importance of an orderly transition away from Libor.
As part of regulators’ efforts to facilitate the ongoing transition away from Libor, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Risk Advisory Committee today recommended “SOFR First” as a market best practice.
BAFT, the American Bankers Association subsidiary association for international transaction banking, today released a frequently asked questions guide on the Libor transition.
Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael Hsu today said that it is “imperative that banks continue careful planning” for the transition away from Libor to an alternate reference rate, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, the Alternate Reference Rates Committee’s preferred Libor alternative.
With certain tenors of Libor set to sunset at the end of 2021, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Interest Rate Benchmark Reform Subcommittee today announced that it has voted to recommend that beginning July 26, interdealer brokers replace trading of Libor linear swaps with trading of U.S. dollar linear swaps tied to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee’s preferred Libor alternative.