U.K. regulators' decision toabandon the Libor benchmark by the end of 2021 threatens to sowconfusion in the market as the industry races to replace thescandal-plagued rate that underpins more than $350 trillion offinancial products.

“It's going to be a feast for financial lawyers,” said BillBlain, head of capital markets and alternative assets at brokerageMint Partners in London. “Libor is part of the financialinfrastructure that supports the swap, loan and floating-rate bondindustry. Everyone now will need to check what contracts say,and it's going to be a headache for anyone with a Libor-basedcontract.”

Andrew Bailey, head of the Financial Conduct Authority, saidThursday in London that Libor isn't sustainable because of a lackof transactions providing data. Industry and regulators need tostep up planning for a transition to “alternative reference ratesthat are based firmly on transactions,” he said. Bailey outlinedthe factors involved in the move away from Libor, withoutadvocating any specific candidate to replace it.