Transition to RFRs Review: Third Quarter of 2021 and Year-to-September 30, 2021

The Transition to Risk-free Rates (RFRs) Review analyzes the trading volumes of over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded interest rate derivatives (IRD) that reference selected alternative RFRs, including the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), the Sterling Overnight Index Average, the Swiss Average Rate Overnight, the Tokyo Overnight Average Rate, the Euro Short-Term Rate and the Australian Overnight Index Average.

Key highlights for the third quarter of 2021 include:

  • The average monthly ISDA-Clarus RFR Adoption Indicator, which tracks how much global trading activity (as measured by DV01) is conducted in cleared OTC and exchange-traded IRD that reference the identified RFRs in six major currencies, reached 17.4% compared to 11.0% in the prior quarter.
  • Global RFR-linked IRD traded notional accounted for 13.9% of total IRD traded notional versus 11.4% in the second quarter of 2021.
  • Based on US trading data, traded notional of OTC IRD referencing alternative RFRs increased by 97.0% to $7.5 trillion in the third quarter of 2021 compared to $3.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2021.
  • Based on US trading data, IRD traded notional referencing SOFR increased by 127.4% to $2.1 trillion in the third quarter of 2021 from $932.9 billion in the second quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily driven by the SOFR First initiative that started for linear derivatives on July 26, 2021.

Click on the attached PDF to read the full report.

Documents (1) for Transition to RFRs Review: Third Quarter of 2021 and Year-to-September 30, 2021

ISDA Publishes Updated ISDA SIMM Governance

ISDA has published an updated version of the ISDA SIMM® Governance Framework, which sets out the principles under which the ISDA Standard Initial Margin Model® operates and the process through which it will be reviewed and amended on a consistent...

ISDA Response to PRA IMA Consultation

On September 18, ISDA, the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, the Institute of International Finance and UK Finance submitted a joint response to the UK Prudential Regulation Authority consultation on adjustments to the internal model approach (IMA) for the...

Calibration Test – IQ September 2026

Calibrating capital requirements is a highly complex undertaking and getting it wrong can have serious consequences. Too much lenience might lead to banks holding insufficient capital to mitigate their risks. But excess conservatism can put balance sheets under strain, forcing...