The Bankers Association of the Philippines wishes to give an update on changes to the Philippine Interbank Reference Rate (“PHIREF”) in connection with the cessation of the USD London Interbank Offered Rate (“USD Libor”) by the end of June 2023.

As previously stated, the BAP will not give fallback rates for the 1-Week, 2-Month, and 1-Year PHIREF tenors. The publication of the rates of these tenors will cease by January 1, 2022. On the other hand, the BAP shall provide fallback rates for the Overnight, 1-Month, 3-Month, and 6-Month PHIREF tenors.

In making this decision, the BAP considered the fact that nearly all outstanding contracts use one of the 4 PHIREF tenors wherein a fallback rate would be provided for in the future.

The BAP would like to clarify that this announcement is not intended to trigger an index cessation event or any similar contractual provisions regarding application of fallbacks. We will publish our final decision in October after reviewing feedback from market participants, if any, on this announcement.

Please see this document detailing all recent updates regarding this matter.