MAS has extended the timeline for financial institutions (“FIs”) to cease new JPY LIBOR derivatives contracts that mature after end-December 2021, from end-June 2021 to end-September 2021. This is to align with the timelines announced by the Cross-Industry Committee on Japanese Yen Interest Rate Benchmarks, and seeks to facilitate more efficient group wide management of LIBOR transition by global financial institutions.

Other supervisory expectations set out in MAS’ circular issued on 23 April 2021 regarding “Supervisory Expectations for Benchmarks Transition” (“the Circular”) remain unchanged. Please refer to Transition Milestones in Singapore – LIBORfor these timelines.

To help FIs better understand the expectations and their application, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQs”) section  for reference. FIs that face difficulties in complying with the transition timelines (e.g. due to system upgrade scheduling, dependence on a wider group implementation) should contact their MAS Review Officers to explain the challenges, along with their projected adherence dates.

With less than six months remaining to the cessation of non-USD LIBOR, FIs should urgently complete the tasks necessary to prepare for the benchmarks’ discontinuation.  MAS will step up the frequency of monitoring to track the progress of individual FIs as we approach the end-December 2021 milestone.