Institutional loans set records while ratings agency data diverges
It isn’t just the CLO market breaking records this year. Loan volumes are also continuing to set records, according to the latest Debtwire data for November.

Securities regulators call for improvement in practices in CLO market
IOSCO, an international policy forum for securities regulators, has called for improvement in practices in both the leveraged loan and CLO markets.

In Kirschner fallout, lenders may be asked to rep that they aren’t investors

Our Xtract Research team explores an unexpected outcome from the recent Kirschner ruling  

JP Morgan wins Kirschner case as court rules loans are not securities
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favour of JP Morgan in the Kirschner case that term loan Bs are not securities

Loan market breathes sigh of relief as SEC declines to comment on Kirschner case
The SEC decided not to intervene in an ongoing court case about whether US leveraged loans are securities last week in an important win for the loan market.

Should I worry about synthetic Libor?
The date on which the ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) will cease publishing the remaining available tenors of Libor is fast approaching. But initially, publication of all tenors of Libor was supposed to cease on 31 December 2021. 

FCA greenlights synthetic Libor
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority has given the go-ahead for ‘synthetic Libor’ as it creates a bridge for Libor contracts that do not have any hard-wired language referencing Sofr. 

Proposed SEC rules "possibly existential" for open-ended loan funds, says LSTA
The US Securities and Exchange Commission's upcoming new rule focusing on liquidity management in open-ended funds could have “possibly existential” and negative implications for loan mutual funds and exchange traded funds in its current form, according to the LSTA

Judges rule in favour of Citi in overturning Revlon decision
Citi has won its appeal against Revlon creditors, forcing a consortium of asset managers to return more than half a billion dollars received in an accidental transfer in 2020

CEO steps down after DWS greenwashing allegations lead to police raid
A tumultuous 24 hours for DWS Group, in which police and regulators raided its office, has been compounded by the resignation of its chief executive officer Asoka Woehrmann on Wednesday morning

We’ll get through this awkward patch
Wide liabilities have made pricing CLOs trickier in the past few months. But speakers at Creditflux’s CLO Symposium were optimistic that the arbitrage is OK — so long as you can place those triple As

SEC's CDS proposals could impede market rather than help it: Barclays
New rules proposed by the US Securities & Exchange Commissions to tighten oversight of the CDS market could mean big changes for the market and have the effect of sapping activity, warn Barclays credit strategists in a note published on Thursday

CLO market and congress plead with SEC to extend rule comment period to 90 days
SEC rule proposals are no page-turners: members of the US congress are looking to extend comment periods from 30 days to 90 days. Recent SEC rule proposals require commentors to read and analyse roughly 3,570 pages and respond to 2,260 individually identified questions   

Biden signs Libor transition measures into law
The Libor legislations, which recieved bipartisan support, are aimed at giving clarity to tough-to-amend Libor contracts that lack adequate fallback language, and supporting a smooth transition away from Libor

Senate introduces bipartisan bill for “tough" legacy Libor contract transitions
Four senators introduced a bill on Wednesday to provide a replacement framework for “tough legacy” financial contracts that reference Libor but cannot be easily changed

SEC warns private fund investors about misleading fund disclosure and due diligence failures
The US Secuties & Exchange Commission published a risk alert on Friday detailing a range of compliance issues it has observed in examining registered private fund advisers 

Lev loan index rule change proposed to meet Sofr switch
Leveraged loan index stakeholders are being asked for feedback on a proposal that would allow the inclusion of loans linked to Sofr and scrap a minimum spread rule

Sofr transition timing puts CLO debt and equity at odds, says BNP Paribas
CLO investors look to have tough conversations ahead on the structure implications of the transition from Libor to Sofr, with BNP Paribas strategists noting CLO debt will benefit from an early move while equity tranches would do better to wait

CLOs face uncertainty as Libor rate deadline looms
CLO equity valuations could be increasingly under the spotlight in coming months, as sources warn of disruption while the market grapples with basis risk between Libor and Sofr in loans and CLO notes

"Do not rush to set up a check-box approach with negative screening and start de-investing"
Instead of rushing through an ESG framework, asset managers need to adopt a long- and short-term approach

Breakthroughs come thick and fast for Libor alternatives
Momentum has gathered around initiatives to replace Libor in contracts, with CME Group obtaining a regulatory nod on the term Secured Overnight Financing Rate (Sofr) as well as moving to launch interest rate futures based on banks’ short term credit yields

CME touts forward-looking Sofr term benchmarks
CME Group has begun publishing term benchmarks for the secured overnight interest rate (Sofr) as part of the global push to move away from Libor in financial markets

Fund managers brace for EU’s new sustainability regulations
European fund managers were faced with new environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) regulations in March, which enhance disclosure requirements around sustainability

ESG drive poses little threat to CLO returns or flexibility, says Moody's
Environmental, social and governance investment criteria are not impairing CLOs either in flexibility or performance, Moody's Investors Service has found in a new report

Sofr fix nears launch as CLOs face term rate void
Three months into 2021, grounds for optimism have grown little that a term rate will be found before the end of the year to replace Libor in loans, CLOs, CDS and other contracts. But hopes are rising that solutions such as credit spread adjustments could help mitigate performance uncertainty