CSA Multilateral Staff Notice 25-312: Reminder of Cessation of CDOR on June 28, 2024

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CSA Multilateral Staff Notice 25-312
Reminder of Cessation of CDOR on June 28, 2024 June 6, 2024 Introduction Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission, Autorité des marchés financiers, British Columbia Securities Commission and Alberta Securities Commission are publishing this notice to remind market participants that the Canadian Dollar Offered Rate (CDOR) will cease to be published after a final publication on Friday, June 28, 2024 (the CDOR Cessation Date). Transition arrangements On February 23, 2023, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published CSA Staff Notice 25-309 Matters Relating to Cessation of CDOR and Expected Cessation of Bankers’ Acceptances (the 2023 Notice). 1 The purpose of the 2023 Notice was to help ensure that market participants were aware of transition issues regarding the cessation of CDOR on the CDOR Cessation Date and the related cessation of the issuance of Bankers’ Acceptances. Among other things, the 2023 Notice encouraged appropriate action well in advance of the CDOR Cessation Date by market participants that have issued or hold securities, or that are parties to derivatives or loan agreements, which:

use CDOR as a reference rate, and

extend, or might extend, past the CDOR Cessation Date.
The 2023 Notice indicated that transition arrangements would include ensuring that the relevant contractual provisions for these securities, derivatives and loans had appropriate fallback language that specifies a replacement rate for CDOR. 2 CARR guidance On April 30, 2024, the Canadian Alternative Reference Rate working group (CARR) published guidance to assist market participants that have not yet adopted appropriate transition 1 A copy of the 2023 Notice is at https://lautorite.qc.ca/fileadmin/lautorite/reglementation/valeurs-mobilieres/0-avis-acvm￾staff/2023/2023fev23-25-309-avis-acvm-en.pdf. 2 “Fallback language” refers to the contractual provisions in an instrument that set out the process by which a replacement rate is to be used if a benchmark is not available for use. In the absence of appropriate fallback language, the 2023 Notice indicated that issuers or market participants may need to take actions to mitigate risk, such as renegotiating a contractual provision in an instrument or amending the instrument to include robust fallback language.

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arrangements, including appropriate fallback language for existing securities, derivatives and loan agreements.3 If market participants have not already adopted appropriate transition arrangements, they should do so immediately. Questions Please refer your questions to any of the following:
Serge Boisvert
Senior Policy Coordinator
Autorité des marchés financiers
514 395-0337 poste 4358 serge.boisvert@lautorite.qc.ca Roland Geiling Derivatives Product Analyst Autorité des marchés financiers 514 395-0337 poste 4323 roland.geiling@lautorite.qc.ca Michael Bennett Senior Legal Counsel, Corporate Finance Ontario Securities Commission 416 593-8079 mbennett@osc.gov.on.ca Melissa Taylor Senior Legal Counsel, Corporate Finance Ontario Securities Commission 416 596-4295 mtaylor@osc.gov.on.ca Harvey Steblyk Senior Legal Counsel, Market Regulation Alberta Securities Commission 403 297-2468 harvey.steblyk@asc.ca Janice Cherniak Senior Legal Counsel, Market Regulation Alberta Securities Commission 403 585-6271 janice.cherniak@asc.ca Michael Brady Deputy Director, Capital Markets Regulation British Columbia Securities Commission 604 899-6561 mbrady@bcsc.bc.ca Faisal Kirmani Senior Analyst, Derivatives British Columbia Securities Commission 604 899-6846 fkirmani@bcsc.bc.ca 3 A copy of the CARR guidance is at https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2024/04/carr-reiterates-that-market￾participants-with-cdor-based-loans-derivatives-or-securities-must-prepare-cdors-cessation-post-june-28- 2024/. We note that CARR has published other documents to assist market participants with transition arrangements on the CARR website at https://www.bankofcanada.ca/markets/canadian-alternative￾reference-rate-working-group/.