April 5, 2021 | 12:02 am Font Size REUTERS JAPAN is emerging as a key area of concern in the global migration away from the London interbank offered rate (Libor). With just nine months until yen Libor is phased out, only a fraction of the roughly Y3 quadrillion ($27 trillion) in derivatives pegged to the discredited benchmark have switched to alternative reference rates. A further $150 billion in cash products such as loans and floating-rate notes — many of which can’t be easily shifted to new benchmarks — aren’t due to mature until after Libor expires, Fitch Ratings says. As the deadline nears, worries are mounting that the country could face a disorderly transition come yearend marred by technical problems, legal disputes and increased interbank rate volatility. Global regulators overseeing Libor’s end announced in March that they were considering the creation of a ‘synthetic’ yen rate as a stopgap measure to allow more so-called tough legacy contracts to roll off the books.