Transitioning away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other IBORs is one of the biggest challenges currently facing banks and other financial services firms. The significance of this can hardly be underestimated, as LIBOR alone is a benchmark rate which underpins around $400 trillion of financial products for customers globally, including derivatives, bonds and loans.Regulators have made clear that financial institutions need to end their reliance on LIBOR by end-2021. Successful management of the transition will require significant change and strategic risk management, including identifying existing exposure to LIBOR, the analysis of huge numbers of historical customer and counterparty contracts, adjusting risk profiles and models, adapting IT systems, updating documentation and keeping pace with a challenging set of regulatory milestones. It has been speculated that for some firms this could be a bigger challenge than Brexit.While managing legacy exposure will be a significant challenge in its own right, financial institutions were required from Q4 of this year to include alternative rate products in their product offerings, such as SONIA in the sterling market. Any new LIBOR-linked product now needs to allow for switching to an alternative rate before the end of next year. Ensuring that the conversion mechanism in these contracts works for customers and counterparties is critical.Join us at Managing LIBOR Transition: Practical Guidance for UK Financial Institutions and Users - A Virtual Summit, on 26th January to hear from the FCA and leading UK practitioners involved in the implementation of the transition. This is the first of three summits that we will be organising in the run up to the final implementation date.We are delighted that Edwin Schooling Latter, Director of Markets and Wholesale Policy at the FCA will be giving the keynote address.Key issues addressed by our exceptional speaker panel include:
The senior management of all financial institutions, as well as the heads of LIBOR transition, sterling markets, treasury, rates strategy, benchmarks, lending, derivatives, debt capital markets, compliance, legal and regulatory and public affairs. Finance directors and treasurers from corporates. The advisory community.