On 16 January 2020, the Bank of England (the "BoE"),
the UK Financial Conduct Authority (the "FCA") and the
Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Rates
("RFRWG") published a set of documents outlining
priorities and milestones for 2020 on LIBOR
transition.1
UK regulators have signalled that 2020 is a critical year in the
transition efforts from LIBOR to alternative risk-free rates such
as the Sterling Overnight Index Average ("SONIA"), the
RFRWG recommended replacement rate for Sterling LIBOR-referenced
transactions. The suite of publications released last month set out
key priorities and milestones for transition progress in 2020, and
help to provide greater clarity on a number of issues central to
LIBOR transition. An overarching theme of the documents (and the
heading of the associated press release) is that for affected
market participants, both on the sell- and buy-side, "the time
to act is now". In this alert memorandum, we highlight the key
priorities
