The end of Libor: the biggest banking challenge you've never heard of

On June 30, British bank NatWest sent out an arcane-sounding press release - bus operator National Express had become the first company to take out a loan based on Sonia, a replacement for scandal-hit interest rate benchmark Libor.

It was billed as the first switch of thousands that British firms would make by end-2021, when the benchmark is set to be decommissioned.

Four months on, NatWest's trailblazing Sonia switch has been followed by only one other loan, when the bank st ..

The slow progress highlights the challenge banks and borrowers face as regulators attempt to end the use of Libor, a benchmark embedded in as much as $340 trillion financial contracts worldwide from home loans to complicated derivatives.

Libor, once dubbed the world's most important number, was discredited after the 2008 financial crisis when authorities in the United States and Britain found traders had manipulated it to make a profit.

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