Eversheds Sutherland’s new law arm, Konexo, has teamed up with accountants Grant Thornton UK and DXC Technology to advise on the City of London's transition away from using Interbank Offered Rates (IBOR).

The trio say they will combine their skills and expertise to advise on ‘the most critical business, risk, legal and market driven change programmes financial services companies will face over the next two years’.

“We recognise that for ‘wide problems’ like the IBOR transition, no single organisation can responsibly deliver an integrated solution out of their core strengths alone,” said Brett Aubin, head of regulatory response at Konexo.

He added that the initiative “lets go of corporate ego to ensure clients receive effective, pragmatic, risk managed and cost optimized solutions”.

Rich Evans, industry general manager, banking and capital markets at DXC Technology, added: “The sheer multiplicity of IBOR-referencing products, stretching from OTC derivatives through syndicated loan portfolios to retail mortgages and automotive loans, means that most financial services organisations will be faced with complex and far-reaching technology change requirements over an extended period of IBOR Transition."

According to a report by EY, the transition will impact legacy contracts relating to trillions of dollars of debt and derivatives products and reqiure operations and technology upgrades, recalibration of models, the renegotiation of existing contracts as well as generating the threat of ‘legal challenges and reputational damage’.

Other law firms to respond to the LIBOR transition with cross-sector collaborations include Hogan Lovells, whose Engage: LIBOR product was devised in collaboration with FTI Consulting and Cognia.

Konexo’s venture follows its unveiling in December of a workflow and document management service for in-house legal teams, the group's first new product after it was carved out of the firm in June last year in order to become a standalone alternative legal service provider business.

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