What is the interest reference index?

 

Interest reference indices are benchmarks that are publicly available and are updated periodically. The indices are calculated by an independent institution to represent the cost of financing for different markets (e.g. intra-bank, capital, etc.).

As such, interest rate benchmarks have a key role in the financial system, the banking system, the economy in general. Some examples of reference indices would be LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate - interest rate for loans granted on the London interbank market), for EURO would be EURIBOR (Euro Interbank Offerred Rate) and EONIA (Euro Overnight Index Average); these rates are generally known as IBOR's.

Cessation of LIBOR

On March 5, 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) confirmed that all LIBOR settings will either cease to be provided by any administrator or will no longer be representative:

• Immediately after December 31, 2021, in the case of GBP, euro, CHF and JPY, as well as maturities of 1 week and 2 months for US dollars.
• Immediately after June 30, 2023, in the case of the other maturities in US dollars.

FCA Statement: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/documents/future-cessation-loss-representativeness-libor-benchmarks.pdf

 

What you should know ?

 

The LIBOR reform impacts both existing and credit agreement indexed according to a LIBOR interest rate. Libor indices will continue to be published, in accordance with the financial conduct authority's announcement. For credit agreement in progress on the date on which the current IBOR rates will no longer be published, and which do not include specific clauses for this situation, the current interest rate index will be replaced by a new index, based on the recommendations of the European Commission, to minimize the economic impact for both parties to the contract. For new credit contracts, the Bank's offer will be revised to include reference indices that comply with the requirements of Regulation 2016/1011.

 

Jurisdiction	ARRs	Index name	Administrator	Description
United States of America	SOFR ON	Secured Overnight Financing Rate	Federal Reserve Bank of New York	Collateralized transactions of collateralized overnight financing

 

Federal Reserve Bank of New York - Replacement of LIBOR USD

The SOFR O/N rate is calculated and published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (NY Fed), being selected as the reference rate for contracts using the US dollar.

Pentru valoarea indicelui se va consulta site-ul: https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/reference-rates/sofr

Useful links:

More details can be found here: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/usd-libor-panel-ceases-end-june-2023-are-you-ready
You can acces the Regulation in here:  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/RO/AUTO/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2016.171.01.0001.01.RON&toc=OJ:L:2016:171:TOC
New York Federal Reserve (USD) : https://www.newyorkfed.org/arrc