Tag Archives: SOFR

It’s Not Just a Flesh Wound

I’ve been back from CREFC’s and RER’s annual meetings for a week or so, mulling what those confabs meant.  There’s been plenty of reportage on the events, the panels, the parties, the to-ing and fro-ing, but what I want to do is step back and reflect on the gestalt; the subtext, the hidden codex.  What … Continue Reading

LIBOR’s Winter is Coming

God knows I’m as sick of LIBOR transition as you are and writing about it twice in quick succession is annoying, but I think necessary. Here’s the headline which I don’t think has gotten the visibility it deserves: LIBOR will largely end at the end of this year and not in the misty remove of … Continue Reading

SOFR Transition: It’s Not Done Yet!

We’ve written before about our anxiety regarding the fact that SOFR does not really seem fit for purpose to support commercial mortgage lending or indeed any cash product.  (The nonsense about charging interest in arrears should have been a tell, to be honest.)  Of course, the real problem is the absence of a credit-sensitive component … Continue Reading

LIBOR: They Blinked!

My, my, my! Another governmental red line looks to be breached; at least this time no one gets hurt. We, at CrunchedCredit, have in some sense been carrying the government’s water about LIBOR transitions. We have been talking about how to prepare for transition, how to move current loan production onto a sound non-LIBOR basis … Continue Reading

Inexorably SOFR…But Hang On!

Timing is everything.  I published a piece two weeks ago on LIBOR transition to SOFR and suggested that folks get on with it and embrace this flawed but seemingly inevitable new SOFR index.  Writing that piece, I thought of as rather an exercise in self-care, I just had to get beyond my annoyance with SOFR … Continue Reading

It’s Time to Initiate a SOFR Loan…Or Maybe Not

I wrote back in the early days of 2020, or as we call it now, the “Time Before,” that we thought it made sense for key market participants to consider an early move to SOFR pricing, not just as the backstop but as the interest rate of the loans.  Frankly, we were thinking about the … Continue Reading

Dechert OnPoint: SEC Publishes OCIE Risk Alert on LIBOR Transition Preparedness Examination Initiative

Regulators have been increasing their scrutiny of LIBOR transition efforts as they ramp up messaging stressing that the time to act is now.   The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued a National Exam Program Risk Alert to introduce a LIBOR Examination Initiative on the upcoming discontinuation of, and transition … Continue Reading

ARRC Recommended Spread Adjustment Announced

The LIBOR transition plods onward.  Last Wednesday, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) announced its recommended spread adjustment methodology for cash products referencing LIBOR.  Regulators around the world have been clear: interim LIBOR replacement deadlines might slip, but LIBOR’s days are still numbered.  At the end of March, which feels like ten thousand years ago, … Continue Reading

2019 Golden Turkey Awards

As is our tradition here at Crunched Credit, each year, about this time, we award our Golden Turkey Awards.  Once again, I must say that we are utterly blessed with so many worthy candidates. The truly deserving have once again wrangled with vision and astounding persistence to earn a spot on our acclaimed list.  To … Continue Reading

Proposed Tax Rules on LIBOR Replacements Answer Some (But Not All) Questions

Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released proposed rules providing tax guidance around various LIBOR replacement issues.  Long anticipated.  The defenestration of LIBOR will leave considerable broken glass in its wake.  Perhaps just so the tax professionals wouldn’t feel left out, the end of LIBOR will create a series of tax problems.  Very … Continue Reading

Quick Note: What Will the ARRC Recommend for the Spread Adjustment?

The LIBOR transition process is an affair of headache-inducing complexity.  Amidst the thousands of gallons of ink spilled on the subject, we thought it might be useful, from time to time, to give you some important information in  bite-sized servings (don’t worry, we will continue to publish lengthy, irreverent commentaries on the subject that our … Continue Reading

Killing LIBOR: A Victory for Irrational Rectitude

The US economy is about to pay the butcher’s bill for a massive disruption of worldwide financial markets resulting from the elimination of the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR.  And, we are doing this on purpose.  It seems the denizens of the heights of our international financial fabric felt they had to do this … Continue Reading
LexBlog