finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

, an interest rate derivative (IRD) is a

derivative In mathematics, the derivative is a fundamental tool that quantifies the sensitivity to change of a function's output with respect to its input. The derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is t ...

whose payments are determined through calculation techniques where the underlying benchmark product is an

interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...

, or set of different interest rates. There are a multitude of different interest rate indices that can be used in this definition. IRDs are popular with all financial market participants given the need for almost any area of finance to either hedge or speculate on the movement of interest rates. Modeling of interest rate derivatives is usually done on a time-dependent multi-dimensional lattice ("tree") or using specialized simulation models. Both are calibrated to the

underlying In finance, a derivative is a contract between a buyer and a seller. The derivative can take various forms, depending on the transaction, but every derivative has the following four elements: # an item (the "underlier") that can or must be bou ...

risk drivers, usually domestic or foreign short rates and

foreign exchange market The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, ...

rates, and incorporate delivery- and day count conventions. The Heath–Jarrow–Morton framework is often used instead of short rates.

Types

The most basic subclassification of interest rate derivatives (IRDs) is to define linear and non-linear. Further classification of the above is then made to define vanilla (or standard) IRDs and exotic IRDs; see exotic derivative.

Linear and non-linear

Linear IRDs are those whose net present values (PVs) are overwhelmingly (although not necessarily entirely) dictated by and undergo changes approximately proportional to the one-to-one movement of the underlying interest rate index. Examples of linear IRDs are; interest rate swaps (IRSs), forward rate agreements (FRAs), zero coupon swaps (ZCSs), cross-currency basis swaps (XCSs) and single currency basis swaps (SBSs). Non-linear IRDs form the set of remaining products. Those whose PVs are commonly dictated by more than the one-to-one movement of the underlying interest rate index. Examples of non-linear IRDs are; swaptions, interest rate caps and floors and constant maturity swaps (CMSs). These products' PVs are reliant upon volatility so their pricing is often more complex as is the nature of their risk management.

Vanilla and exotic

The categorisation of linear and non-linear and vanilla and exotic is not universally acknowledged and a number of products might exist that can be arguably assigned to different categories. These terms may also overlap. "Vanilla", in "vanilla IRSs" and "vanilla swaptions", is often taken to mean the basic, most liquid and commonly traded variants of those products. Exotic is usually used to define a feature that is an extension to an IRD type. For example, an in-arrears IRS is a genuine example of an exotic IRS, whereas an IRS whose structure was the same as vanilla but whose start and end dates might be unconventional, would not generally be classed as exotic. Typically this would be referred to as a bespoke IRS (or customised IRS). Bermudan swaptions are examples of swaption extensions that qualify as exotic variants. Other products that are generally classed as exotics are power reverse dual currency note (PRDC or Turbo), target redemption note (TARN), CMS steepene

Snowball (finance), Inverse floating rate note, Inverse floater, Strips of Collateralized mortgage obligation, Ratchet caps and floors, and Cross currency swaptions.

Trivia

The interest rate derivatives market is the largest derivatives market in the world. The Bank for International Settlements estimates that the

notional amount The notional amount (or notional principal amount or notional value) on a financial instrument is the nominal or face amount that is used to calculate payments made on that instrument. This amount generally does not change and is thus referred to a ...

outstanding in June 2012Bank for International Settlement
"Semiannual OTC derivatives statistics"
at end-June 2012. Retrieved 5 July 2013. were US$494 trillion for OTC interest rate contracts, and US$342 trillion for OTC interest rate swaps. According to the

International Swaps and Derivatives Association The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA ) is a trade organization of participants in the market for derivative (finance)#Over-the-counter derivatives, over-the-counter derivatives. It is headquartered in New York City, and has c ...

, 80% of the world's top 500 companies as of April 2003 used interest rate derivatives to control their cashflows. This compares with 75% for foreign exchange options, 25% for

commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic goods, good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the Market (economics), market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to w ...

options and 10% for

stock option In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified ...

References

External links

Basic Fixed Income Derivative Hedging
– Article on Financial-edu.com.
Interest Rate Modeling
by L. Andersen and V. Piterbarg
Pricing and Trading Interest Rate Derivatives
by J H M Darbyshire
Online Analytics and Portfolio Management Tools
by OCM Solutions Inc. {{DEFAULTSORT:Interest Rate Derivative Derivatives (finance)