Fed Tells Judge Scrapping Libor Too Soon Would Spur Market Chaos

The Federal Reserve told a judge not to scrap Libor as requested by consumers in a lawsuit because it would pose a risk to financial stability and undermine years of global planning for a transition to a new benchmark for borrowing rates.

A staged transition away from the London interbank offered rate is underway globally, but immediately ending the London interbank offered rate by court order would likely harm consumers and businesses, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a filing Friday in federal court in San Francisco.