Swiss watchdog FINMA: banks' syndicated loans falling behind LIBOR transition

ZURICH (Reuters) - Banks in Switzerland are essentially on track with the transition to phase out London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) references rates, financial market supervisor FINMA said on Thursday, but some products such as syndicated loans are trailing behind.

"FINMA sees the greatest need for action in the area of syndicated loans, i.e. loans where at least two lenders work together to provide funds," FINMA said in a statement, adding the number of syndicated loan contracts without robust fallback clauses had only been reduced by 28% since the start of 2021.

"FINMA is therefore repeating its appeal to the banks to actively contact the syndicate banks and borrowers in order to amend the relevant credit agreements and achieve legal certainty for the future."

(Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Alex Richardson)