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The administrator for LIBOR and other inter-bank offered rates,
ICE Benchmark Administration ( IBA ), confirmed on March
5, 2021 its previously announced dates for LIBOR
cessation.
18 On the same day, the U.K. Financial Conduct
Authority ( FCA ) announced that 1-week and 2-month USD
LIBOR will cease publication after December 31, 2021, as will all
non-USD LIBOR tenors, and that 3-month, 6-month and 1-year USD
LIBOR will cease publication after June 30, 2023.
What does this mean for outstanding USD LIBOR floating rate
notes that have the Alternative Reference Rates Committee s
( ARRC ) recommended fallback provisions? A
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On March 5, 2021, the ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA), UK
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and International Swaps and
Derivatives Association (ISDA) made important announcements
regarding the timelines of the cessations of the London Interbank
Offered Rate (LIBOR).
LIBOR cessation dates
The IBA, which administers LIBOR, confirmed in its feedback
statement on its consultation regarding the cessation of its
publication of LIBOR that the majority of LIBOR panel banks would
not be willing to contribute to LIBOR in the future and announced
that it will cease publishing the LIBOR rates described below, as
JPY LIBOR
GBP LIBOR
USD LIBOR
Overnight and 12 Months
‘Synthetic’ LIBOR
Under proposed amendments to the UK Benchmarks Regulation, the FCA would have the power to require the IBA to continue publishing LIBOR settings on a “synthetic” basis using a changed methodology. The FCA has indicated that synthetic LIBOR would be based on a forward-looking term rate version of the relevant risk-free rate plus a fixed spread adjustment calculated over the same period and in the same way as the spread adjustment implemented in the IBOR Fallbacks Supplement (Fallbacks Supplement) and the 2020 IBOR Fallbacks Protocol (Fallbacks Protocol). The FCA has advised the IBA that it has no intention of using its proposed new powers to require the IBA to continue publication of any LIBOR setting beyond the intended cessation dates. However, for the LIBOR settings included in the table below, the FCA has advised the IBA that it will consult on using its proposed new powers to require the IBA to c
6 month
In its announcement, the FCA made it clear that these nine tenors of LIBOR would no longer be representative after 30 June 2023 whether or not there was a determination to allow continued publication of a synthetic version of one or more of these tenors of LIBOR after that date. The FCA reminded market participants that, if permitted, the publication of Synthetic LIBOR would be intended to assist parties unable to transition tough legacy contracts by 30 June 2023. Synthetic LIBOR will not be available for new contracts because, as noted above, is the LIBOR rate that a synthetic version continues would be unrepresentative for the purposes of UK BMR.