Thursday, August 08, 2013

A Few Notes on Interest Rate Swaps..

From the teachings of Andrew R Yong and Howard Corb..

Swaps

Contract among two counterparties to exchange periodic cash flows, based on a notional principal value

Types

o   Interest Rate Swaps [Same Currency]
o   Coupon Swap - Fixed Floating Swap
o   Basis Swap – Floating Floating Swap  [Basis = Both Float]
o   Inflation rate Swaps
o   Portfolio Swaps
o   Cross Currency Swaps
               

Motivation

Traditionally if the interest rates were likely to fall, investors purchased a Bond. As the rates fell, price increase would benefit investors. Today you could enter floating for fixed interest rate swap – as rates fall investor would pay lower floating rate in exchange for same high fixed rate.

o   Hedge Against Interest Rate Changes
o   Balance Sheet Management
o   Asset Hedging, Liability Hedging
o   Speculate on Interest Rate Changes

FiRe Fixed - In case of likely fall, it is better to receive fixed.

 

Interest Rate Swaps

Coupon Swap

o   Is a Fixed Floating Swap
o   Most common is Semi Bond vs. Threes
o   One Stream typically Fixed Semi Bond, typically pays Semi Annually at Fixed Rate on 30/360 basis. E.g. client pays T5 + 21 semi-annually on 30/360 basis. T5 is the yield of on the run 5 year Treasury. It could pay Semi Annually on ACT/360 basis as well. We gotta lookup in the Annual Money column in such a scenario.
o   Other Stream typically Floating Actual Money, pays Quarterly at Floating Rate on ACT/ 360 basis. E.g. dealer pays 3mL quarterly on Act/360. 3mL is the 3 month LIBOR.
o   When floating side is 3mL we focus exclusively on the fixed rate.




 


                                                       

Semi Bond typically pays 30/360 (B3)
Actual Money typically pays ACT/360 (M&A)

Basis Swap

o   Is a Floating Floating Swap

Definitions

Interest Rates, Bond Yield and Bond Price

Interest Rate ↑ Bond Price↓ Bond Yield ↑
Interest Rate ↓ Bond Price ↑ Bond Yield ↓
Bond Price says to Interest Rate, Puck You I go the other way
Yield says to Interest Rate,  I move with you
Interest Rates usually rise because of the inflationary expectations when economy is doing good. In such scenarios investors usually have other investment alternatives which are more lucrative and people jump out of bonds and flock to them. So when interest rates rise the bond prices drop and yields go up.

Yield Curve

Relationship between future interest rates and time

Zero Coupon Bond

o   Does not pay interest at periodic intervals
o   It is issued at discount from its par value and redeemed at par
o   Accumulated discount which is repaid represents compound interest
o   A Graph of IRR of this bond vs Range of Maturities is called Zero Coupon Yield Curve

Forward Interest Rate

Rate at which the investors can re- invest his deposit after a certain period in the future e.g. 6 month forward interest rate .

Forward Yield Curve

A graphical relationship of forward interest rates.

Spreads

Are typically quoted from dealers perspective.

Offer Side Spread

Spread at which the Dealer will receive Fixed.

Bid Side Spread

Spread at which the Dealer will pay Fixed.

Offer Side Swap Rate

Mid Market Yield of relevant on the run treasury + offer side spread

Bid Side Swap Rate

Mid Market Yield of relevant on the run treasury + Bid side spread

US Treasury Publishing Frequency and Swap Rates calculation

Term
Swap Rate Calculation
2,3,5,7 Year Notes
Mid Yield from Monthly Auction + Swap Spread
10 Year Notes
Mid Yield from Quarterly Auction + Swap Spread
30 Year Bonds
Mid Yield from Quarterly Auction + Swap Spread
12 Year Note
Same swap rate as 10 [no rhyme or reason to this]
All other e.g. 4,6,7,8,9,15,20,25 YR Notes
Linear Interpolation betn two adjacent OTR treasury yields

Prime Rate

o   Rate at which banks lend to favored customers [prime customers].
o   In US typically it is Fed Funds Rate + 300 basis points
o   Currently it is 3.25%

Fed Funds Rate

o   Overnight Interbank Rate
o   Fed sets the target 8 times a year
If yield = X% then future value of 1$ in 1 year will be 1/(1+x/100)