I. What’s the issue?
The London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) is the most widely used interest rate benchmark in the world, referenced in some $373 trillion notional value of financial transactions of all types. But in light of the various price-fixing scandals surrounding LIBOR and the limited activity in the London interbank market, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) announced in 2017 that it will no longer sustain the publication of LIBOR as a reference rate by the end of 2021. LIBOR’s administrator now plans to retire 3-, 6-, and 12-month U.S. dollar LIBOR in late June 2023, while leaving in place the end-of-2021 retirement date for 1-week and 2-month U.S. dollar LIBOR and for all LIBOR settings in British pounds, euros, Swiss francs, and yen. U.S. regulators have encouraged banks to transition away from LIBOR “as soon as practicable.”