Read time: 2 minutes 45 seconds

In these uncertain times, we take a look at the potential implications of COVID-19 on the LIBOR transition, currently scheduled for the end of 2021.

The anticipated impact of COVID-19 on the LIBOR transition can be divided into two parts. There is the immediate and operational effects that the virus will have on banks’ transition timeline, and there is the longer-term structuring implications that this period of uncertainty will create. There is also the question as to whether 2021 will remain the deadline for the transition.
Continue Reading COVID-19: impact on the LIBOR market and 2021 transition

Crossing out Plan A and writing Plan B on a blackboard.

Read time: 1 minute 20 seconds

Earlier this month the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (the ‘PRA’) wrote to all UK companies undertaking cross-border activities between the UK and the EU under passporting arrangements, requesting a summary of their Brexit contingency plans.

The letter continues the regulator’s focus on ensuring firms have robust measures and business strategies in place to respond to market turbulence. 
Continue Reading BREXIT- Hand-over your contingency plans…

ESMA for blogRead time: less than 1 minute

Credit rating agencies (‘CRAs’) that operate in the EU will be interested to hear that on 30 March 2017, ESMA published an update to its Questions & Answers (Q&A) on the ‘CRA’ Regulation (Regulation 1060/2009, as amended in 2011 and 2013).  The CRA Regulation requires CRAs within the EU to be registered and to comply with requirements relating to their independence and avoidance of conflicts of interest, their methodologies, their disclosures and their approach to sovereign debt.  It also contains requirements on parties involved in securitisations in respect of the rating of structured finance instruments.
Continue Reading ESMA clarifies timelines for publication of credit ratings and rating outlooks

The UK referendum has caused uncertainty in the financial services industry, but what does it mean for alternative capital providers? And could it create some business opportunities?

Alternative capital providers are unregulated, or at least non-bank, financial institutions. Alternative finance embraces lenders from the smallest participants in peer-to-peer platforms to multibillion dollar global alternative lending

Read time: 30 seconds

In a decision of 9 June 2016, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, “BGH”) has ruled that the determination of the close-out amount in a netting provision based on the German Master Agreement for Financial Derivatives Transactions (Rahmenvertrag für Finanztermingeschäfte or DRV) is not legally effective

S Caldwell blog - 12.08.15Eight years on from the credit crisis, the drive to rehabilitate securitisation continues.

The most recent body to speak up for the increasingly regulated structures is the European Banking Authority, which last month published an Opinion and an accompanying Report on the establishment of a European framework for qualifying securitisations for the purposes of determining

clocksI bring good news from the Bank of England. Whether you have been up all night trying to close a £1 billion securities transaction for your client, or you are buying a house and there’s a last minute snag, the deadline for settling securities transactions and making high-value cash transfers is due to be extended

Minibonds photoThis may be a slightly odd question with which to start a legal blog post, but do you like burritos, wine, or chocolate? Who doesn’t, right? If only there was a way of making money off your addiction to tasty Mexican treats or decadent Swiss truffles? Well, as it turns out, there might be…

Mini-bonds

Running man - RBSUThe Investment Plan, developed by the European Commission, has the potential to be one of the most important and radical changes to how the European Union operates in the last 25 years.  Not only will it seek to harmonise the financial and regulatory barriers to investment, but it will look to harness the collective