The transition from LIBOR to the Fed-published Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) or possible alternatives is motivated in large part by the mandated cessation of LIBOR publication. The transition has engendered major operational initiatives across a wide spectrum of affected banks and other financial institutions. LIBOR has been so thoroughly embedded that legally imposed limits on its use has created an immediate need to prioritize the transition. Institutions must identify where LIBOR is referenced in its documents and make the corresponding changes in systems, calculations and risk management.
Our LIBOR Replacement Roundtable Discussion took place on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 10:30am EST, led by a panel of industry experts and leaders from Capital Markets Advisors LLC, Automated Financial Systems (AFS), the Loan Syndications and Trading Association, Eversheds-Sutherland, Ipro, Co-Bank and Bank of Hope.
Our panelists discussed:
- The current state of play of the transition across asset classes;
- Transition stages, including LIBOR exposure, solutions and common issues;
- Documentation and impact on clearing, pricing valuations and risk management;
- The use of SOFR and viability of alternatives;
- Impact of changes to New York law and potential changes to federal law;
- Tax and accounting considerations.
Want to learn more? Watch a recording of the Zoom session below and email us to learn more by CLICKING HERE.
About Our Panelists:
Don Nisonoff is a Partner at Capital Markets Advisors for regulatory and business development, brings a wealth of experience across a broad range of capital markets practice areas gained at Wall Street investment banks, prominent law firms and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He has advised traders, bankers and compliance personnel on complex U.S. and cross-border transactions in equity and fixed income products, options and derivatives and in regulatory inquiries and investigations. His work with CMA focuses on advising and identifying opportunities for the company’s exceptional expertise in transaction systems and processing, clearing, prime brokerage, derivatives and risk management, with a focus on regulatory compliance.
Paul Michaud is a Toronto based Partner and Regional Head of Canada for CMA. Paul has expertise in all aspects of Trading, Transaction Processing and Risk Management from both the business and technology perspectives. Prior to joining CMA, Paul was responsible for Financial Market Industry Solutions at IBM and has held senior executive and consulting roles at IBM and PwC as well as directly for various Banks, Asset Managers and Energy Companies in both North America and Europe. Paul has extensive knowledge of all traded financial and energy products with particular expertise in complex OTC Financial and Energy transactions. Paul is recognized as a leading Subject Matter Expert for both the Financial Markets and Energy Sectors and has been an invited speaker and author on a wide range of issues facing these sectors over the years.
Charles Wambua is the Sr. Project Leader for AFSVision Syndications & Capital Markets. Mr. Wambua joined AFS in 2018 and is part of the AFSVision® Syndications & Capital Markets team. Most recently, Charles led the AFS efforts to build AFSVision’s Trader Workstation, which is fully integrated with AFSVision servicing which is part of the AFSVision commercial lending platform. In addition, Charles represents AFS on the ARRC LIBOR/SOFR transition Vendor Working Group, the LSTA FpML Working Group and is deeply involved in AFS client and market engagement activities.
Before joining AFS, Mr. Wambua managed loan syndications agency and lender teams at Capital One and Morgan Stanley. Prior to that, he supported the North America and EMEA Agency, lender and loan trade closing teams at JPM and Citibank. He has over 14 years of industry experience and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Banking from Lincoln University, PA.
Gabe Gross is a Strategic Client Manager at Ipro, and brings over two decades of industry experience to helping his clients develop and implement solutions around Data Governance and eDiscovery, Review and Trial workflow strategies. Prior to Joining IPRO, Gabe worked at LexisNexis where he managed relationships with large law firm clients in New York City.
Meredith Coffey is the Executive Vice President – Research & Public Policy of the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA). In this position as a member of the senior leadership team, she runs the Research Department and co-heads the LSTA’s public policy initiatives, which help facilitate continued availability of credit and the efficiency of the loan market. In addition, Ms. Coffey heads efforts to analyze current and anticipated loan market developments, helping the LSTA build strategy and improve market efficiency, and providing insight through weekly newsletters, periodic conferences, webcasts and media commentary.
Ms. Coffey is on the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), which is working to transition from LIBOR to a successor rate; she co-chairs the ARRC’s Business Loans Working Group and the Loans Operations Sub-Group. She and the analyst team also engage market participants, press and regulators on issues and developments in the global loan market. Ms. Coffey has published analysis on the syndicated loan market in numerous books and periodicals, presents frequently, and has testified several times before Congress on issues pertaining to the loan and CLO markets.
Prior to joining the LSTA, Ms. Coffey was Senior Vice President and Director of Analysis focusing on the loan and adjacent markets for Thomson Reuters LPC, working in and running loan research for 15 years. Ms. Coffey has a B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College and a graduate degree in Economics from New York University.
James M. Cain is a Washington, DC based Partner at Eversheds Sutherland. With more than three decades of experience, Jamie Cain has guided insurers, banks, securities and commodities firms, and funds through significant transactions that transform their businesses including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He regularly works with U.S. and foreign companies to interpret and comply with the myriad of securities, commodities, insurance and banking laws that apply to these transactions.
A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Jamie is recognized for his knowledge of the Dodd-Frank Act and the regulation and use of derivatives including those instruments used for interest rate, foreign exchange, commodity, credit default and equity transactions and related collateral arrangements. He represents a wide range of global clients, typically on the buy side, including major public companies, financial institutions, public and private funds, government sponsored enterprises and foreign governments. He advises these clients on documentation of those transactions and on internal and regulatory compliance, investigations, enforcement actions and other disputes, including those arising from close out and valuation in the context of counterparty insolvency proceedings. Jamie also advises insurers, banks and broker-dealers in connection with cross-industry acquisitions and in the distribution of their respective products both domestically and internationally.
Jim Shanahan is the VP, CFA Financial Regulatory Compliance at CoBank. Jim, directs the Bank’s LIBOR Transition Program. Additionally, he also is the Chairman of the Farm Credit Banks’ LIBOR Work Group. In 2018, Jim was appointed the Commodity Futures Trade Commission’s Market Risk Advisory Committee and the Interest Rate Reform Subcommittee. Additionally, Jim represents the Bank on the International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s Benchmark Workgroup since 2017.
Before joining CoBank in 2012, he spent 20 years in the Farm Credit System in various lending, risk management and trading positions with several banks and associations.
Mr. Shanahan has a B.S. in Business Administration from Colorado State University and an M.B.A. from Wichita State University. Additionally, he holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Matt Beers is the SVP, Head of Loan Operations at Bank of Hope. Matt is skilled in developing and leading Loan Origination and Loan Servicing activities that include Syndicated and Participated Commercial Loans, Private Bank and Wealth Management relationships, mass market retail loans, and Home Mortgage Loans and Lines of Credit.
