Interest Rate Swaps and Corporate Financing Choices

This paper describes the firm's decision to borrow short-term versus long-term and shows how the introduction of interest rate swaps affects this choice. The model shows that in the absence of a swap market, interest rate uncertainty can lead firms to substitute long-term for short-term financing. However, when swaps exist, there is a tendency for firms that expect their credit quality to improve to borrow short-term and use swaps to hedge interest rate risk. The model suggests that, while the demand for fixed for floating swaps is enhanced, the demand for floating for fixed swaps is reduced by the presence of asymmetric information.     

Interest rate swaps

This instructional case is intended to introduce graduate and undergraduate financial accounting and finance students to derivatives using interest rate swaps. The major learning objective is to understand derivative accounting methods, using interest rate swaps, as proposed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board's recent Exposure Draft. A secondary learning objective is to understand key features of a management control system for derivatives' activities. Both matched and unmatched interest rate swap examples are used in this case. The matched swap is based on an actual swap done by a bank for one of its customers. The case is written from the perspective of an audit partner writing a report summarizing interest rate swap accounting and related management controls for a client who wanted to recognize all gains and losses related to its interest rate swaps immediately in current earnings.     

Swaps: Plain and Fanciful

The outstanding face amount of plain vanilla interest rate swaps exceeds two trillion dollars. While pricing and hedging of such swaps appear to be quite simple, many existing theories are based on the incorrect characterization of a swap as a simple exchange of a fixed for a floating rate note. This characterization is not consistent with standarized swap contracts and the treatment of swaps in bankruptcy. This paper provides an alternative perspective on swaps.     

The pricing of interest rate swaps

Interest rate swaps have become an important tool for financial institutions because they provide a convenient way to reduce interest rate risk. Swaps allow financial institutions to obtain short-term deposits in the local deposit market and then transform these into longer-term liabilities. The growth of swaps has been explosive, with the swap market growing from nothing in 1981 to an estimated $889 billion in 1987. In addition to their role in managing interest rate risk, swaps have become important to financial managers for other reasons, and as a result the swap market is monitored by financial managers as are money and capital markets. Because of its growing importance, an empirical perspective on how swaps are priced is needed. This article develops a simple market model and then estimates the model using data provided by three major swap market participants.     

An empirical analysis of bank interest rate swaps

Considering the characteristics of banks that do and do not report interest rate swaps, the long-term interest rate exposure of a bank and the likelihood and extent of swap market participation are found to be positively related. Key to the finding is the inclusion of variables related to the provision of swap market intermediary services, which significantly explain both the likelihood of swap market participation and the notional value of outstanding swaps. The results suggest that the likelihood and extent of swap market participation by low-capitalized banks is less than for other banks.     

Modeling volatility and changes in the swap spread

We investigate the determinants of changes in U.S. interest rate swap spreads using a model that explicitly allows for volatility interactions between swaps of different terms to maturity. Changes in the swap spread are found to be positively related to interest rate volatility, to changes in the default risk premium in the corporate bond market, and to changes in the liquidity premium for government securities. Swap spread changes are negatively related to changes in the level of interest rates and changes in the slope of the term structure. We also find that there is a strong and significant volatility interaction among spreads for swaps of different maturities and that the process for the conditional variance of the spread is highly persistent across all maturities.     

Swap Rates and Credit Quality

This article presents a model for valuing claims subject to default by both contracting parties, such as swaps and forwards. With counterparties of different default risk, the promised cash flows of a swap are discounted by a switching discount rate that, at any given state and time, is equal to the discount rate of the counterparty for whom the swap is currently out of the money (that is, a liability). The impact of credit-risk asymmetry and of netting is presented through both theory and numerical examples, which include interest rate and currency swaps.     

The term structure of interbank risk

We infer a term structure of interbank risk from spreads between rates on interest rate swaps indexed to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and overnight indexed swaps. We develop a tractable model of interbank risk to decompose the term structure into default and non-default (liquidity) components. From August 2007 to January 2011, the fraction of total interbank risk due to default risk, on average, increases with maturity. At short maturities, the non-default component is important in the first half of the sample period and is correlated with measures of funding and market liquidity. The model also provides a framework for pricing, hedging, and risk management of interest rate swaps in the presence of significant basis risk.     

中国利率市场的价格发现——对国债现货、期货以及利率互换市场的研究

本文采用信息份额模型和基于向量自回归(VAR)模型的格兰杰因果检验,研究了国债现货、国债期货和利率互换三个市场之间的价格发现机制。信息份额模型表明,从整体来看利率互换相对于国债期货和国债现货都具有信息优势,而国债期货相对于国债现货具有信息优势。另外,国债期货的价格发现能力相对于另外两个市场都在随时间增强。格兰杰因果检验结果显示,利率互换在价格发现中单向引领国债期货以及国债现货,国债期货单向引领国债现货。所有结果一致表明, 利率互换和国债期货这两种利率衍生产品在引导中国利率市场价格发现中发挥了重要作用。     

Risk management of real estate: The case of real estate swaps

Real estate swaps are a recent financial innovation based upon the principle of comparative advantage. A real estate swap is a useful tool for real estate risk management and for participating in real estate investment without the high costs associated with real estate. Potential economic benefits and costs associated with real estate swaps are considered and real estate swaps are compared to alternative tools for real estate risk management. The expected utility and effectiveness of risk management with a swap in a multiperiod framework are analyzed. The analysis finds that the subject property's return and its risk characteristics (as reflected in its correlation with interest rate and property index returns) delimit the risk management potential of a given swap position. Optimal swap positions are shown for various regions and property types based on historical return series, from the period between 1983 and 1992, and the parameters of the dynamic model developed.     

The analytic pricing of asymmetric defaultable swaps

Swaps where both parties are exposed to credit risk still lack convincing pricing mechanisms. This article presents a reduced-form model where the event of default is related to structural characteristics of each party. The cash flows submitted to credit risk are identified before the swap is priced. Analytical pricing formulas for interest rate and currency swaps are computed using a Gaussian model for risky bonds. Currency swaps exhibit additional correlation risk. The benefits from netting depend on the balance between exposures and market conditions in valuation. We show that sources of credit risk asymmetries are also likely to impact on credit spreads.     

The analysis and valuation of interest rate options

This paper provides a simple, alternative model for the valuation of European-style interest rate options. The assumption that drives the hedging argument in the model is that the forward prices of bonds follow an arbitrary two-state process. Later, this assumption is made more specific by postulating that the discount on a zero-coupon bond follows a multiplicative binomial process. In contrast to the Black-Scholes assumption applied to zero-coupon bonds, the limiting distribution of this process has the attractive features that the zero-bond price has a natural barrier at unity (thus precluding negative interest rates), and that the bond price is negatively skewed. The model is used to price interest rate options in general, and interest rate caps and floors in particular. The model is then generalized and applied to European-style options on bonds. A relationship is established between options on swaps and options on coupon bonds. The generalized model then provides a computationally simple formula, closely related to the Black-Scholes formula, for the valuation of European-style options on swaps.     

Interest Rate Risk Management in Major Finnish Firms

The interest rate policies of Finnish firms appear risk aversive, but hedging decisions are influenced by market view. Managers find they can forecast trends in interest rate development, and employ the forecasts in the choice of debt and hedging instruments. The use of risk assessment methods and hedging instruments are related to firm size but not to leverage. Most frequently employed hedging instruments are interest rate swaps and forward rate agreements. The respondents find their firms' interest rate risk management is successful, but performance is seldom measured against an explicitly defined benchmark.     

Hedging or Market Timing? Selecting the Interest Rate Exposure of Corporate Debt

This paper examines whether firms are hedging or timing the market when selecting the interest rate exposure of their new debt issuances. I use a more accurate measure of the interest rate exposure chosen by firms by combining the initial exposure of newly issued debt securities with their use of interest rate swaps. The results indicate that the final interest rate exposure is largely driven by the slope of the yield curve at the time the debt is issued. These results suggest that interest rate risk management practices are primarily driven by speculation or myopia, not hedging considerations.     

Pricing default swaps: Empirical evidence

In this paper we compare market prices of credit default swaps with model prices. We show that a simple reduced form model outperforms directly comparing bonds' credit spreads to default swap premiums. We find that the model yields unbiased premium estimates for default swaps on investment grade issuers, but only if we use swap or repo rates as proxy for default-free interest rates. This indicates that the government curve is no longer seen as the reference default-free curve. We also show that the model is relatively insensitive to the value of the assumed recovery rate.     

Pre‐Issuance Hedging of Fixed‐Rate Debt

This article analyzes several corporate hedging strategies to manage interest rate risk on fixed‐rate debt prior to issuance. The authors start by considering these strategies using a highly stylized model: a binomial forward interest rate tree that, while simple in design, illustrates derivative pricing methodologies that are used in practice. Under a given rate volatility assumption, they demonstrate expected outcomes when entering a forward bond contract, a forward‐starting pay‐fixed interest swap, and a purchased option on that swap, as well as the “default” alternative of doing nothing. In principle, the decision of whether or not to hedge, as well as how to do so, depends on management's view of future interest rate volatility and degree of comfort with possible outcomes. The authors then assess the pros and cons of hedging strategies, with considerable emphasis on practical considerations. For example, while their theoretical model would allow an issuer to “lock” a specific debt issuance, in practice one can hedge only “benchmark” interest rate risk. The authors describe the use of both Treasury locks and forward‐starting swaps to address unexpected benchmark yield changes, and discuss how factors such as the time to issuance affect an issuer's choice of instrument. For instance, Treasury locks are typically used when the time to issuance is relatively short, while interest rate swaps are more common for longer times to issuance. The article also discusses circumstances in which a “do nothing” strategy may be preferable to other alternatives, as well as the disadvantages of issuing in advance. Finally, the authors describe the impact of financial accounting on different hedge strategies.     

A synthetic factor approach to the estimation of value-at-risk of a portfolio of interest rate swaps

In this paper we decompose the interest rate swap yield curves of 10 major currencies into their common factors and find that the first two factors, interpreted as parallel shift and rotation, explain between 97.1% and 98.6% of the variation in the interest rate swap rates across all 10 currencies. The main contribution of the paper however is that we then model these two factors as simplified synthetic factors so that they may be used to develop an innovative approach to the computation of Value-at-Risk (VaR) for a portfolio of interest rate swaps.     

Credit derivatives with multiple debt issues

We evaluate the most actively traded types of credit derivatives within a unified pricing framework that allows for multiple debt issues. Since firms default on all of their obligations, total debt is instrumental in the likelihood of default and therefore in credit derivatives valuation. We use a single factor interest rate model where the exponential default frontier is based on total debt and is made coherent with observed bond prices. Analytical formulae are derived for credit default swaps, total return swaps (both fixed-for-fixed and fixed-for-floating), and credit risk options (CROs). Price behaviors and hedging properties of all these credit derivatives are investigated. Simulations document that credit derivatives prices may be significantly affected by terms of debt other than those of the reference obligation. The analysis of CROs indicates their superior ability to fine-tune the hedging of magnitude and arrival risks of default.     

Credit Risk Exposure with Currency Swaps

Most countries have adopted the proposals of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) to cover credit risks incurred by banks and security institutions. For derivatives the exposed amount has been defined as the positive marked-to-market value plus an add-on factor. For currency swaps there are three add-on factors, depending on the remaining life of the contract. In this paper it is shown that they should also depend on interest differentials, the interest rate and exchange rate volatilities, and the interest correlation. Further, it is shown that credit risk is not always divided equally over both parties.     

Analysis of Credit Risks in Asset-Backed Securitization Transactions in Singapore

Asset-backed securitization (ABS) is a relatively new financial instrument in Singapore's capital market, which has been accepted by developers (originators) as an alternative source of financing. Credit assessment and rating requirements have not been imposed on the ABS bond issues. Default-risk evaluation has also been understated, if not omitted, in the process of structuring ABS deals. This is the first study that applies a theoretical default-risky swaps valuation model to evaluate credit risks in ABS bonds in Singapore. The Monte-Carlo simulation results, based on the Century Square shopping mall ABS case, show significant effects of the changes in rental volatility and default-free interest rate volatility on the default-risk premium of swap. More specifically, an increase in the rental volatility reduces the default-risky swap values significantly. However, an increase in the instantaneous default-free interest rate volatility increases the default-risk premium of swaps, and this effect is only observed in the high default-free interest rate volatility regime (above 20 percent). The results suggest that the rental dynamics of the securitized real estate are critical in determining the default risks of ABS deals. The fixed-rate (coupon yield) and floating-rate (rental cash flows) should therefore be adequately determined to reflect the default risks, which may be caused by the rental dynamics of the securitized real estate.