How the Syndicated Loan Market Is Dealing with the Potential Replacement of LIBOR
The May 2008 disclosure of the manipulation of London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR), in what has become known as the ‘LIBOR Scandal’; resulted in regulators for the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union fining banks more than $9 billion. LIBOR underpins over $350 trillion worth of transactions each year, of which about $200 trillion consists of derivatives, mortgages and, of particular of concern here, syndicated loans.1 To get a better sense of the magnitude of LIBOR-based transactions, it is useful to consider that the amount of annual transactions under LIBOR totals about five times the gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire world. In 2017 statements by the chairman of the Bank of England led to increased momentum to replace LIBOR. On April 3, 2018, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed) began publishing a new rate called the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) which has the potential to be a replacement for LIBOR. However, as discussed below, it is far from certain that SOFR is the best suited rate to replace LIBOR in the syndicated loan market.
Part One of this series discusses: (i) what is LIBOR? what concerns are currently associated with it? and whether it is likely to be replaced, and (ii) how the loan market is adjusting to the current uncertainty surrounding LIBOR’s fate. Part Two, originally published in Risk Magazine on March 29, 20182, will discuss possible fintech solutions which have the potential to revolutionize the process of determining LIBOR and/or other reference rates.
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