Article 23C Benchmarks Regulation – Notice of Permitted Legacy Use by Supervised Entities [pdf]

Following its decision to continue the publication of the 1-, 3- and 6-month US dollar LIBOR settings on a synthetic basis beyond June 30, 2023 (please see EventID 20544 for more information), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a Final Notice to permit the continuous use of these LIBOR tenors up to September 30, 2024 which is the effective maintenance period of those settings.
This step is necessary following the designation of the tenors as critical benchmarks in accordance with article 23a of the Retained Benchmark Regulation (UK BMR) which effectively prohibits the continuous use of such in both legacy and future contracts, unless a notice by the Authority states otherwise. To prevent harm from the financial market, the FCA has issued this notice to permit the use of the three tenors in legacy contracts only, excluding any cleared derivatives, irrespective of the way they were cleared.
In this context, the FCA also published a „Notice of Requirements“ to require ICE Benchmark Administration Limited, the Benchmark Administrator of above named LIBOR settings, to continue to provide the three named tenors on a synthetic basis in accordance with the technical specifications set out in the Annex to the Notice (please see EventID 21834 for more information).