Delaying the end of dollar LIBOR until mid-2023 may provide breathing room, but it doesn't remove the need for a legislative solution for contracts that will still be linked to the benchmark when it eventually expires.

That's the view of Tom Wipf, who heads the Federal Reserve-backed group responsible for guiding the shift away from the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR) in the United States. There may be hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of legacy contracts that lack a clear replacement rate and pose a threat to financial stability, meaning that policymakers still need to find answers.

"The most challenged floating-rate debt and securitizations, and also most LIBOR mortgages and student loans, go well beyond the 2023 date," said Wipf, who is chairman of the Alternative Reference Rates Committee and vice chairman of institutional securities at Morgan Stanley. "For these tough legacy products, there will still be a lot outstanding after that 18-month period."