Alternative reference rates - Ep6

It is March 2021 and the world of “no new LIBOR” is in full swing. At the end of 2021, most LIBOR settings were published for the final time. So it is a good time to reflect on the achievements and take a stock-take on what is left to do around synthetic LIBOR, US transition, legislative solution and the use of CSRs and term rates.In this final episode, Laura Talvitie is joined by two guests from the UK and US. Toby Williams is a Technical Specialist in Benchmarks Policy at the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Tom Wipf chairs the US Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) and is also a Vice Chairman of Institutional Securities at Morgan Stanley.

The FCA has confirmed the proposed rules and principles around the permitted use of synthetic LIBOR. We have heard clapping from the market, but is synthetic LIBOR a silver bullet or a tool to buy us all some more breathing space for now, without being the long-term solution. In this episode, Laura Talvitie is joined by Sarah Mrkusic and Michael Dawes. Sarah is a finance lawyer and Senior Legal Consultant in PwC’s NewLaw team. Michael is a Senior Manager in PwC’s Regulatory Conduct team with an extensive background in LIBOR transition.

The process of moving from LIBORs to risk-free reference rates, term rates and USD credit sensitive rates has been a lot to take in. Even for the biggest, most knowledgeable market participants. And it’s not over yet. In this episode, PwC Partners Sergey Volkov and Justin Keane join Laura Talvitie to cover the status of the key rates replacing LIBORs globally, what the rates are and why firms may choose to use one or the other. Sergey and Justin lead PwC's LIBOR Transition efforts in APAC and North America respectively. They specialise in supporting global banking and capital market clients on their LIBOR transition programmes.

Many companies still have a significant amount of work to do to make the transition from IBORs to risk-free rates. In this episode, Laura Talvitie is joined by Chris Raftopoulos, a Director in our Treasury Advisory and Assurance business, and Sarah Boyce, an Associate Director in the Association of Corporate Treasurers. We cover the key considerations, challenges and actions corporates should think about right now.

Anyone who is involved in LIBOR transition, knows what a significant challenge it is. For some firms, models will be one of the most complex parts of the exercise. Our guests on our latest podcast are Dherminder Kainth, from the PRA's Traded Risk Measurement team, and Chris Heys, PwC Partner and one of our Global Model Risk Leads. With our host Laura Talvitie, they cover the impact of LIBOR transition on models, the latest PRA / FCA Dear CEO letter and what firms should do now.

As the end of LIBOR gets closer, are banks ready for RFRs? PwC has recently designed and concluded a global survey and subsequent roundtable events on the transition readiness. These were completed with a particular focus on contracts and client outreach and how to operationalise these changes into the banks’ business processes and systems. Topics which the FCA and PRA have highlighted as the key focus areas in their recent Dear CEO letter. Laura Talvitie talks to Akhilesh Khera, Partner leading our Business Process & Systems Change work, Karyn Daud, Partner leading our Contracts & Client outreach work, and Lisa Dhanani, Director and the UK COO for LIBOR Transition in PwC.

Conduct risk is one of the key issues regulators are concerned about at the moment. How to ensure that customers are treated fairly during and after the transition? Is litigation risk real? Laura Talvitie talks to Nassim Daneshzadeh, PwC’s Head of Banking Conduct Risk and Regulation, and Sergen Djemal, Senior Manager and SME on IBOR transition.

In the first episode of our podcast series, Laura Talvitie chats with two PwC LIBOR experts, Andrew Gray and Nassim Daneshzadeh. Where are we with LIBOR transition, will the market be ready in time and what are the key challenges for the sell-side?