11.2.21
On November 2, SFA CEO Michael Bright testified before the Senate Banking Committee at a hearing entitled, “The Libor Transition: Protecting Consumers and Investors.” Bright testified that “the cessation of LIBOR has been an enormous challenge overhanging the capital markets since 2017,” and “while small compared to the overall size of outstanding LIBOR contracts, $16 trillion [in tough legacy contracts] is still a large sum, posing a serious risk to the financial system.” Tuesday’s Senate Banking hearing was perhaps the most bipartisan of the year, and committee members, including Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-PA), voiced their commitment to working together on a legislative solution to comprehensively address tough legacy LIBOR contracts. The other witnesses were Mr. Thomas Wipf, Chair of The Alternative Reference Rate Committee (ARRC) and Managing Director, Morgan Stanley; Mr. Andrew Pizor, Staff Attorney, National Consumer Law Center; and The Honorable J. Christopher Giancarlo, Senior Counsel, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and former Chairman, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Ahead of the hearing, SFA was joined by 19 other financial services trade associations on a letter supporting federal LIBOR legislation.