Abandon Libor Now or Else, U.K. Agency Warns Finance Firms
- FCA tells traders they must move to replacements for benchmark
- $170 trillion of swap contracts remain tied to Libor rate
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The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority warned traders to speed up their moves away from products based on Libor or risk falling foul of the regulator when the 50-year-old borrowing benchmark disappears.
Financial institutions still hold about $170 trillion in swap contracts based on Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, and about a third of those mature after 2021, when the benchmark rate will disappear, FCA Chief Executive Officer Andrew Bailey said Thursday in a speech at Bloomberg’s headquarters in London.