Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn

ARTICLE · 06 OCTOBER 2020

A Credit-Sensitive Supplement To SOFR: Borrowers' Objections

Mayer Brown
Mayer Brown
Contributor
Mayer Brown

Mayer Brown

Mayer Brown is a leading international law firm positioned to represent the world’s major...

View firm profile
Explore more from Mayer Brown

During an economic downtown, LIBOR (and the interest rate on a LIBOR-priced loan) would likely increase. Because SOFR is a rate based on transactions secured by U.S.

United StatesFinance and Banking

During an economic downtown, LIBOR (and the interest rate on a LIBOR-priced loan) would likely increase. Because SOFR is a rate based on transactions secured by U.S. Treasury obligations, it's possible that during an economic downtown SOFR (and the interest rate on a SOFR-priced loan) would not increase and would in fact decline. Thus, in times of economic stress, a bank's income from its SOFR-priced loans would decline, while its funding costs would increase.

As a result, some banks believe that the interest rate on SOFR-priced loans should be subject to increase by an additional spread that would reflect credit risk at a particular time.1 Market participants discussed the construction, use and implementation of such a credit-sensitive supplement during a series of recent meetings at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In the most recent such meeting, representatives of the borrower community expressed their views and pointed out some of the problems that they

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

Visit us at mayerbrown.com

Mayer Brown is a global services provider comprising associated legal practices that are separate entities, including Mayer Brown LLP (Illinois, USA), Mayer Brown International LLP (England & Wales), Mayer Brown (a Hong Kong partnership) and Tauil & Chequer Advogados (a Brazilian law partnership) and non-legal service providers, which provide consultancy services (collectively, the "Mayer Brown Practices"). The Mayer Brown Practices are established in various jurisdictions and may be a legal person or a partnership. PK Wong & Nair LLC ("PKWN") is the constituent Singapore law practice of our licensed joint law venture in Singapore, Mayer Brown PK Wong & Nair Pte. Ltd. Details of the individual Mayer Brown Practices and PKWN can be found in the Legal Notices section of our website. "Mayer Brown" and the Mayer Brown logo are the trademarks of Mayer Brown.

© Copyright 2026. The Mayer Brown Practices. All rights reserved.

This Mayer Brown article provides information and comments on legal issues and developments of interest. The foregoing is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide legal advice. Readers should seek specific legal advice before taking any action with respect to the matters discussed herein.

See more popular content from