Request Relates to CFTC Letter Nos. 20-23, 20-24, 20-25

Mr. Clark Hutchison III

Director 

Division of Clearing and Risk 

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

Three Lafayette Center 

1155 21st Street, N.W. 

Washington, DC 20581

Ms. Meghan Tente

Acting Director

Division of Market Oversight

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Center

1155 21st Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20581

Ms. Amanda Olear

Acting Director

Market Participants Division

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Center

1155 21st Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20581

December 2, 2021

RE: REQUEST FOR EXTENSION AND RELATED MODIFICATIONS TO NOACTION RELIEF FROM THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN SWAP 

REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS TO FACILITATE AN ORDERLY 

TRANSITION FROM INTER-BANK OFFERED RATES TO ALTERNATIVE 

RISK-FREE RATES

Dear Ms. Tente, Mr. Hutchison, and Ms. Olear,

The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) and its member firms are 

submitting this letter to request modifications to no-action relief issued by the Division of 

Clearing and Risk (DCR), the Division of Market Oversight (DMO) and the Market 

Participants Division (MPD) of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

(CFTC or Commission) from certain requirements under the Commodity Exchange Act 

(CEA) and CFTC regulations for certain swaps that are amended as part of the industry 

effort to transition to reference risk-free rates (RFRs) in connection with the upcoming 

discontinuation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other inter-bank 

offered rates (together with LIBOR, IBORs). In particular, the ARRC is requesting an 

extension of CFTC Letter 20-24 (the DMO Letter) and CFTC Letter 20-25 (the DCR 

Letter) and certain related modifications to the DCR Letter and CFTC Letter 20-23 (the 
Request Relates to CFTC Letter Nos. 20-23, 20-24, 20-25

2

MPD Letter and together with the DMO and DCR Letters, the IBOR Relief Letters), as 

discussed further below.

As described in the IBOR Relief Letters, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (the 

FCA), which regulates ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA), the administrator 

of LIBOR, announced in July 2017 that it sought commitments from LIBOR panel banks 

to continue to contribute to LIBOR through the end of 2021, but that the FCA would not 

use its powers to compel or persuade contributions beyond such date. Therefore, it was 

expected that market participants would transition their swaps referencing LIBOR to 

RFRs by the end of 2021. As a result, the DCR Letter and the DMO Letter included an 

expiration date of December 31, 2021. The MPD Letter did not include an expiration 

date. In addition, in discussing relief provided in connection with the end-user exception 

from mandatory clearing and un-cleared swap margin requirements, the DCR Letter and 

the MPD Letter stated that eligible end users and their counterparties “should use their 

best efforts to work toward amending the reference rate provisions in both Covered IRS 

documentation and the related commercial arrangement documentation so that the rates 

referenced therein match again by December 31, 2021.” 

Since the IBOR Relief Letters have been issued, the FCA has announced that while nonU.S. dollar LIBOR settings and the one-week and two-month U.S. dollar LIBOR settings 

will cease to be provided or will no longer be representative of the underlying market as 

of December 31, 2021, all other U.S. dollar LIBOR settings will continue to be published 

on the basis of panel bank submissions until June 30, 2023 (the 2023 USD LIBOR 

Settings).1

Given this extension, the ARRC expects that some market participants may transition 

their swaps referencing such rates after December 31, 2021 but before June 30, 2023. 

The ARRC therefore respectfully requests that the relief provided in the DCR Letter and 

the DMO Letter be extended to June 30, 2023 for swaps otherwise covered by such 

letters to the extent that they reference one of the 2023 USD LIBOR Settings. Similarly, 

the ARRC respectfully requests that the discussion of the end-user exception in the DCR 

Letter and the MPD Letter be updated to provide that eligible end users should use their 

best efforts to work toward amending the reference rate provisions in both Covered IRS 

(as defined in such letters) documentation and the related commercial arrangement 

documentation so that the rates referenced therein match again by June 30, 2023 to the 

extent that the Covered IRS references one of the 2023 USD LIBOR Settings2.

 

1 See “FCA announcement on future cessation and loss of representativeness of the LIBOR

benchmarks” (Mar. 5, 2021), available at https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/documents/future-cessationloss-representativeness-libor-benchmarks.pdf.

2 The ARRC notes that in the floating rate term loan market borrowers frequently hedge their 

interest rate risk with an interest rate derivative. Although by June 30, 2023, most of those derivatives will 

have been modified through adoption by the parties of the ISDA Protocol or via bilateral negotiation, the 

associated term loans may well remain unmodified until December 31, 2023 since continued quotation of 

1-, 3-, and 6-month LIBOR rates until June 30, 2023 would have the effect of extending those loans until as 

late as year-end 2023. An extended mismatch could well occur since the term loans fall into what the