Notice of changes to interest rate benchmarks
Some interest rate benchmarks have been or will be discontinued or reformed. Those that will discontinue will or have been replaced with alternative benchmark rates that meet regulatory and market requirements. If any of your financial products or internal processes refer to these rates, the following information is relevant for you.
What has changed?
LIBOR and EONIA
- Publication of all LIBOR rates (USD, GBP, JPY, CHF, EUR) as well as EONIA has ceased. Only a few USD LIBOR tenors are still being published on a non-representative basis for a limited time. ING no longer offers products referencing these rates.
- ING offers a variety of products based on the respective alternative rates available, such as, but not limited to, SOFR, SONIA, TONAR, SARON or €STR.
What's still to change?
Euribor
- Euribor is compliant with the EU Benchmarks Regulation and can continue to be used. There are no plans to discontinue Euribor. In March 2024, Euribor’s administrator EMMI announced an update to the calculation methodology of Euribor. We understand from EMMI that the change in methodology does not change Euribor’s underlying interest. Euribor will continue to gauge the same economic reality. The updated methodology will be implemented from mid-May 2024 over the course of a six-month period.
- The working group on euro risk-free rates has set out its recommended fallbacks for cash products referencing Euribor. These are now available for use for market participants. The working group concluded its work in 2023.
Local benchmark transitions
- In Poland, WIBOR will be formally decommissioned on 31 December 2027. As it currently stands, the national working group for benchmark reform has advised that as of 1 July 2024 no new products referencing WIBOR should be offered, instead the replacement WIRON rate should be the used. However, details of the transition, including the choice of replacement rate, are currently under discussion by the working group.
- Likewise, the Canadian CDOR will also decommission as per 1 July 2024, so from that date onwards, all new and existing bookings should reference an applicable CORRA rate as the accepted alternative. In the meantime, ING is proactively ensuring that all new transactions reference CORRA, in preparation for the upcoming end date.
What does this mean for you?
The discontinuation and replacement of a rate with an alternative benchmark may impact the products and services made available to you and those that we may provide in the future. Existing products using such rates may also need to be transitioned to accommodate the switch to an alternative benchmark.
We encourage you to familiarise yourself with the developments outlined above. Some links to relevant sources of information are provided below.
When impacted by a benchmark transition, you may want to engage independent consultants for example for legal, tax and accounting advice to review the contractual terms governing any exposures that mature beyond the respective cessation date including an assessment of the robustness of any fallback language. You may also need to consider the potential impact on your business from an accounting, tax and regulatory perspective as well as the impact on treasury and risk management systems and processes.
How is ING responding to this?
ING welcomes the move to more robust and reliable benchmark rates, and continues to work with regulators, industry bodies and trade associations to facilitate a smooth transition. We will continue to update you throughout the various transitions and timelines.
Fallback plan
The EU Benchmark Regulation mentioned above requires ING to have a robust plan that sets out the actions we will take in case a benchmark rate ceases to exist or materially changes. Each ING legal entity has a Fallback Plan. The Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (AFM) monitors the Fallback Plan of ING Bank N.V. which can be found here:
Benchmark regulation – Robust written plan - ING Bank N.V. (PDF 0,1 MB)
Questions?
We refer to the various websites above for more information. The information on this site is not intended to be a complete or an exhaustive overview. If you have questions specific to your business with ING, please approach your contact at ING.
Related links