Firm

Libor [London interbank offered rate] is the primary benchmark, along with Euribor, for short-term interest rates around the world. Libor rates are calculated for five currencies and seven borrowing periods, ranging from overnight to one year, and are published each business day. Libor is based on submissions provided by a selection of large international panel banks. These submissions are intended to reflect the interest rate at which banks could lend one another unsecured funds. Many financial institutions, mortgage lenders, and credit card agencies set their own rates based on this. However, in 2017, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that after 2021 it would no longer require the panel banks to submit the rates needed to calculate Libor. Libor will no longer be published after the end of 2021, and market participants are urged to transition to alternative reference rates (ARRs).

On July 24 2019, based on a request from the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the Trust Companies Association of Japan – a financial association whose members comprise of financial institutions engaged in trust businesses – proposed sample provisions to deal with the risk of money laundering etc. in trust agreements. The outline of these sample provisions is as follows:

Another set of measures came into force in Slovakia on May 12 to protect business operators from the fallout caused by Covid-19. These measures implement interim bankruptcy protections for business operators. These measures are temporary and as it stands, will expire on October 1 2020, with an option for the government to extend them through December 31 2020.