The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made it clear that the publication of LIBOR, the London Interbank Offered Rate, will cease. LIBOR, a benchmark interest rate at which major global banks lend to one another in the interbank market, is underpinning over $200 trillion[1] USD of financial contracts. With the approaching end to LIBOR as an interest rate index, financial institutions and individuals or entities with loans that could be impacted need to understand what this change means in order to limit disruption and mitigate risk.
On March 5, 2021, the ICE Benchmark Administration, the benchmark administrator for LIBOR (IBA), and the UK Financial Conduct Authority, the regulatory supervisor of the IBA (FCA), announced the dates after which all 35 LIBOR settings will either cease to be provided or will no longer be representative. This confirmation followed a similar November 30 statement by the Federal Reserve Board around the proposed cessation dates and provides certainty regarding when LIBOR rates will no longer be available.
Following this announcement, the fallback spread adjustments were published and set by Bloomberg, effective March 5, 2021. These actions did not trigger implementation of a new reference rate for existing loans or swaps.
Prior regulatory guidance also directed banks to stop entering new USD LIBOR contracts by the end of 2021. PNC has complied with this direction. As of January 1, 2022, LIBOR is no longer available for any new loans or certain modifications to existing loans. LIBOR is available only in limited instances for new swaps and certain modifications of existing swaps.
LIBOR has been used globally as a benchmark to gauge funding costs and investment returns for financial contracts for more than 3 decades. It is used to help set the interest rates on many loans, swaps, bonds, credit cards, adjustable rate mortgages, and other products offered by financial institutions.
Changing industry norms and LIBOR manipulation scandals are driving a shift away from LIBOR, causing interbank lending markets to become much thinner and the number of actual transactions upon which the rate is based to decrease significantly. That has caused regulators globally to actively advocate that markets move away from LIBOR to a more reliable index.
PNC has a large team dedicated to this transition that is active in many industry working groups and closely engaged with market activities. For existing LIBOR-based loans and associated underlying derivative contracts maturing beyond June 2023 that do not contain adequate provisions addressing LIBOR cessation, PNC will contact clients to add or amend those provisions or to move to another replacement rate.
Due to regulatory guidance, PNC can no longer originate new LIBOR-based loans or accommodate certain modifications to LIBOR-based loans. Clients with LIBOR-based committed facilities which closed on or prior to December 31, 2021 can continue to borrow and maintain loans at contractual LIBOR-based rates until June 30, 2023 (or, if earlier, such time as they request certain amendments to the loan).
PNC and other market participants have implemented various rate alternatives, including the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) and Bloomberg’s Short-Term Bank Yield Index (BSBY).
The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), an industry group convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the New York Fed, recommends using the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). SOFR is considered a more robust reference rate than LIBOR as it is wholly based on actual transactions and represents an active daily market (over $800B in transactions).
Bloomberg has developed a credit sensitive Short-Term Bank Yield Index (BSBY) based on transaction related data, including both actual executed transactions and firm executable quotes (over $200B in transactions). Commercial lending participants have started to adopt BSBY given it has characteristics more similar to LIBOR.
Although LIBOR and SOFR reflect short-term borrowing costs and are available in multiple tenors, they are calculated very differently:
BSBY was constructed to be different from LIBOR and designed to meet a market need:
Loan documentation generally provides that if LIBOR is no longer available, the interest rate will be based on the Prime Rate.
Due to the anticipated discontinuation of LIBOR, loans originated or modified in the past couple of years have included fallback language outlining a detailed mechanism to amend the loan documents to incorporate a new reference rate to replace LIBOR, as well as a spread and other adjustments to account for differences between LIBOR and the new reference rate.
As of January 1, 2022, if a client seeks an amendment to an existing LIBOR-based loan that extends the tenor, increases the size or amends the pricing, that amendment will be required to implement a rate other than LIBOR.
For existing LIBOR-based loans maturing beyond June 2023 that do not contain adequate provisions addressing LIBOR cessation, PNC will contact clients to add or amend those provisions or to move to another replacement rate.
PNC is able to offer swap fallback provisions that will maintain maximum alignment between a client’s swap and existing loan. In concert with C&IB’s lending strategy, PNC now also has the capability to transact swaps using BSBY and SOFR.
As of January 1, 2022, PNC will only enter into a LIBOR-based swap with a client if that swap is hedging or reducing the client’s LIBOR exposure on contracts entered into before January 1, 2022.
Related to swap fallbacks: Swap documentation historically has not provided for a fallback rate if LIBOR were to be permanently discontinued. In January 2021, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) finalized an update to its derivatives definitions to include LIBOR cessation fallback provisions. These updates name the LIBOR replacement rate as SOFR (compounded in arrears) plus a spread adjustment based on the 5-year median spot difference between USD LIBOR and SOFR. The updated definitions were published and are effective for any new or amended LIBOR swap contracts executed on or after January 25, 2021.
However, clients have options to choose other fallbacks to preserve maximum symmetry between a loan and associated swap. PNC loans entered into or amended after November 2020 generally include hardwired replacement provisions that are consistent with those recommended by ARRC (the committee convened by the Federal Reserve Board to focus on LIBOR transition).
Related to legacy swaps without adequate fallbacks: For existing swap contracts maturing beyond June 2023, PNC will contact clients to amend and incorporate adequate fallback language and replacement provisions.
PNC expects a multi-rate environment to exist following LIBOR cessation. Contracts that have already been updated to include the ‘hardwired approach’ will continue to use SOFR as the replacement rate.
For new loans, PNC recognizes that it is important to offer multiple rate solutions (including BSBY and SOFR) to meet our clients' needs during this transition. To determine the solution that best meets a client’s specific needs, the different characteristics of each rate should be considered. Reach out to your PNC Relationship Manager to discuss the replacement rate alternatives.
For foreign currency IBOR rates, PNC has transitioned to the industry recommended risk-free-rates of SARON (CHF), ESTR (EUR), SONIA (GBP) and TONAR (JPY), as required.
No action is required of existing clients that have loans or swaps that include LIBOR replacement provisions. PNC representatives will reach out to clients in 2022 to address updates to legacy LIBOR loans and swaps that still require updates prior to cessation on June 30, 2023. Continue to reference this site for additional resources on the LIBOR transition and industry developments.
ARRC is group of private-market participants convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the New York Fed.
In 2017, the ARRC selected SOFR as the rate that represents best practice for use in certain new USD derivatives and other financial contracts.
Overview of Bloomberg’s development of BSBY – a dynamic credit sensitive rate with a forward term structure.
ISDA is comprised of a broad range of derivatives market participants.
Visit ISDA Transition from LIBOR »
Working within the Federal Reserve System, the New York Fed implements monetary policy, supervises and regulates financial institutions and helps maintain the nation's payment system.
1. https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/Microsites/arrc/files/2018/ARRC-Second-report
The information contained in this site is of a general nature and does not constitute the provision by PNC of investment, legal, tax, or accounting advice. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. The information was obtained from sources deemed reliable. Such information is not guaranteed as to its accuracy.
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