In finance, an interest rate swap (IRS) is an interest rate derivative (IRD). It involves exchange of interest rates between two parties. In particular it is a "linear" IRD and one of the most liquid, benchmark products. It has associations with forward rate agreements (FRAs), and with zero coupon swaps (ZCSs). In its December 2014 statistics release, the Bank for International Settlements reported that interest rate swaps were the largest component of the global OTC derivative market, representing 60%, with the notional amount outstanding in OTC interest rate swaps of $381 trillion, and the gross market value of $14 trillion. Interest rate swaps can be traded as an index through the FTSE MTIRS Index.
Interest rate swaps
General description
An interest rate swap's (IRS's) effective description is a derivative contract, agreed between two counterparties, which specifies the nature of an exchange of payments benchmarked against an interest rate index. The most common IRS is a fixed for floating swap, whereby one party will make payments to the other based on an initially agreed fixed rate of interest, to receive back payments based on a floating interest rate index. Each of these series of payments is termed a "leg", so a typical IRS has both a fixed and a floating leg. The floating index is commonly an Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) To completely determine any IRS a number of parameters must be specified for each leg:
the notional principal amount (or varying notional schedule); the start and end dates, value-, trade- and settlement dates, and date scheduling (date rolling); the fixed rate (i.e. "swap rate", sometimes quoted as a "swap spread" over a benchmark); the chosen floating interest rate index tenor; the day count conventions for interest calculations. Each currency has its own standard market conventions regarding the frequency of payments, the day count conventions and the end-of-month rule.
Extended description
As OTC instruments, interest rate swaps (IRSs) can be customised in a number of ways and can be structured to meet the specific needs of the counterparties. For example: payment dates could be irregular, the notional of the swap could be amortized over time, reset dates (or fixing dates) of the floating rate could be irregular, mandatory break clauses may be inserted into the contract, etc. A common form of customisation is often present in new issue swaps where the fixed leg cashflows are designed to replicate those cashflows received as the coupons on a purchased bond. The interbank market, however, only has a few standardised types. There is no consensus on the scope of naming convention for different types of IRS. Even a wide description of IRS contracts only includes those whose legs are denominated in the same currency. It is generally accepted that swaps of similar nature whose legs are denominated in different currencies are called cross currency basis swaps. Swaps which are determined on a floating rate index in one currency but whose payments are denominated in another currency are called Quantos. In traditional interest rate derivative terminology an IRS is a fixed leg versus floating leg derivative contract referencing an IBOR as the floating leg. If the floating leg is redefined to be an overnight index, such as EONIA, SONIA, FFOIS, etc. then this type of swap is generally referred to as an overnight indexed swap (OIS). Some financial literature may classify OISs as a subset of IRSs and other literature may recognise a distinct separation. Fixed leg versus fixed leg swaps are rare, and generally constitute a form of specialised loan agreement. Float leg versus float leg swaps are much more common. These are typically termed (single currency) basis swaps (SBSs). The legs on SBSs will necessarily be different interest indexes, such as 1M LIBOR, 3M LIBOR, 6M LIBOR, SONIA, etc. The pricing of these swaps requires a spread often quoted in basis points to be added to one of the floating legs in order to satisfy value equivalence.
Uses Interest rate swaps are used to hedge against or speculate on changes in interest rates. They are also used to manage cashflows by converting floating to fixed interest payments, or vice versa. Interest rate swaps are also used speculatively by hedge funds or other investors who expect a change in interest rates or the relationships between them. Traditionally, fixed income investors who expected rates to fall would purchase cash bonds, whose value increased as rates fell. Today, investors with a similar view could enter a floating-for-fixed interest rate swap; as rates fall, investors would pay a lower floating rate in exchange for the same fixed rate. Interest rate swaps are also popular for the arbitrage opportunities they provide. Varying levels of creditworthiness means that there is often a positive quality spread differential that allows both parties to benefit from an interest rate swap. The interest rate swap market in USD is closely linked to the Eurodollar futures market which trades among others at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Valuation and pricing
IRSs are bespoke financial products whose customisation can include changes to payment dates, notional changes (such as those in amortised IRSs), accrual period adjustment and calculation convention changes (such as a day count convention of 30/360E to ACT/360 or ACT/365). A vanilla IRS is the term used for standardised IRSs. Typically these will have none of the above customisations, and instead exhibit constant notional throughout, implied payment and accrual dates and benchmark calculation conventions by currency. A vanilla IRS is also characterised by one leg being "fixed" and the second leg "floating" referencing an -IBOR index. The net present value (PV) of a vanilla IRS can be computed by determining the PV of each fixed leg and floating leg separately and summing. For pricing a mid-market IRS the underlying principle is that the two legs must have the same value initially; see further under Rational pricing. Calculating the fixed leg requires discounting all of the known cashflows by an appropriate discount factor:
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