Few Asian banks will be able to make loans this year using new rates designed to replace Libor benchmarks, leaving them facing a scramble ahead of Libor's demise at the end of 2021.
If the banks have not moved all new and existing contracts to reference alternatives to Libor (the London Interbank Offered Rate) by 2022, then more than $300 trillion worth of bonds, derivative contracts and loans worldwide could be tied to a benchmark that no longer exists. The uncertainty would be enormous and some borrowers may technically default on their loans. Asia's lenders trail rivals in London and New York, where regulators pushed the changeover aggressively, before the coronavirus pandemic reset the focus on other matters than lending benchmarks.