Interbank Offered Rates (IBORs), a series of interest rate benchmarks, are undergoing a period of change as regulators and industry groups have recommended that firms transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other IBORs and prepare to replace them with alternative, overnight Risk Free Rates (RFRs). These RFRs, including SOFR (USD), €STR (EUR) and SONIA (GBP), are typically administered and published by major central banks worldwide. Transitioning to the RFRs will be a demanding and complex process for the industry as RFRs are structurally different from IBORs. They are overnight rates and exhibit different liquidity characteristics and supply/demand issues than IBORs.
To address the risk that one or more IBORs are discontinued while market participants continue to have exposure to that rate, counterparties are encouraged to agree to contractual fallback provisions that would provide for adjusted versions of the RFRs as replacement rates.
Due to the fundamental differences in the nature of IBORs and the RFRs, key adjustments are necessary if fallbacks to RFRs are to take effect in contracts that were originally negotiated to reference the IBORs. ISDA ran public consultations to finalize the adjustment methodologies and subsequently issued a tender invitation for a vendor to perform and distribute these necessary adjustments.
These consultations yielded industry consensus, and more information about them can be found below.
Bloomberg Test Data for IBOR Fallbacks
Bloomberg Rulebook for IBOR Fallback Methodology
2020 Pre-Cessation Fallback Consultation
IBOR Fallback Rate Adjustments FAQs – Updated May 4, 2020
Results – December 2019 Benchmark Fallbacks Supplemental Consultation
December 2019 Benchmark Fallbacks Supplemental Consultation
Results – September 2019 Consultation on Final Parameters
September 2019 Consultation on Final Parameters
Results – May 2019 Supplemental Consultation
Results – May 2019 Consultation on Pre-Cessation Issues
May 2019 Benchmark Fallbacks Consultations
Results – 2018 Benchmark Fallbacks Consultation
2018 Benchmark Fallbacks Consultation
Target Timing for Fallback Implementation | |
---|---|
Publication of Bloomberg indicative fallback rates | Middle of 2020 (before publication of amendments to the 2006 ISDA Definitions and related protocol) |
Publication of amendments to the 2006 ISDA Definitions and related protocol | July 2020 |
Effectiveness of amendments to the 2006 ISDA Definitions and related protocol | November 2020 (or 4 months after publication) |
Latest
ISDA AGM Studio: Emmanuel Geinoz and Eleanor Kelly
Five jurisdictions went live with revised derivatives reporting rules in 2024, with more to follow in 2025 and beyond, putting reporting teams under extreme pressure to implement accurately and on time to avoid regulatory penalties. Emmanuel Geinoz, market infrastructure and...
ISDA AGM Studio: Tyler Wellensiek, Stephen Berger
The first phase of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Treasury clearing mandate will come into effect in December 2026 – a requirement that will have a significant impact on both US and non-US market participants. Tyler Wellensiek, ISDA board member...
ISDA AGM Studio: Jacques Vigner, BNP Paribas
Jacques Vigner, ISDA board member and chief strategic oversight officer for global markets at BNP Paribas, speaks with Mark Gheerbrant, global head of risk and capital at ISDA, on the key obstacles to a consistent, risk-appropriate capital framework and how to...
ISDA AGM Studio: Future Leaders in Derivatives
Following publication of the latest whitepaper from the ISDA Future Leaders in Derivatives (IFLD) program, Collateral and Liquidity Efficiency in the Derivatives Market: Navigating Risk in a Fragile Ecosystem, Joel Clark talks to IFLD participants Koen Ottenheijm, senior treasury and...