Top regulators from the SEC, the OCC, the CFTC, the Federal
Reserve and the Department of the Treasury spoke in unison at an
eventful meeting of the Financial Stability Oversight Counsel on
June 11, 2021.
Key takeaways:
(1) if you are a regulated bank that is delaying transition in
hope that alternatives to SOFR will develop, the OCC is coming for
you. The warning was expressed in more cordial terms than that, but
no one wants to be unprepared when the OCC comes knocking.
(2) The chair of the SEC, who was also the co-chair of the IOSCO
group that wrote the 2013 IOSCO principles by which replacement
rate benchmarks are measured, doesn't believe that
Bloomberg's BSBY rate meets the standard. This bluntly worded
statement is at odds with the self-certification by Bloomberg,
which was confirmed by an "assurance review" of an
unnamed "global, independent accounting firm" in April.
Awkward, to say the least.
