Financial regulators have asked banks and insurers for their formal plans on how they plan to manage risks brought on by transitioning away from the LIBOR benchmark in 2021. Regulators from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced in December that they plan to begin increasing oversight on this issue while the Federal Reserve started asking about banks’ LIBOR transition plans last June. The New York State Department of Financial Services is also requesting assurance of preparedness. “They are all making similar noises: ‘We need you to pay attention. It is important. It isn’t going away’,” said Paul Forrester, a partner at Mayer Brown. While many major banks have made progress on this preparation, former officials like Dan Stipano, the former deputy chief counsel at the OCC, note that this transition will be difficult given that the alternative rates are filled with both legal and operational risks.

Read more via the Wall Street Journal.