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 the selected alternative RFRs, including the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), the Sterling Overnight Index Average (SONIA), 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 full year 2020 include:
- The 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, increased to 7.6% in the full year 2020 compared to 4.6% in the prior year.
- Global RFR-linked IRD traded notional accounted for 8.8% of total IRD traded notional compared to 5.4% in 2019.
- Based on US trading data, traded notional of OTC IRD referencing alternative RFRs increased to $18.7 trillion in 2020 compared to $8.7 trillion in 2019. RFR transactions accounted for 8.1% of total IRD traded notional in 2020 compared to 3.4% in the prior year.
- Based on US trading data, IRD traded notional referencing SOFR increased to $1.3 trillion from $379.9 billion in the prior year. The proportion of IRD traded notional linked to SOFR remained small, accounting for only 0.6% of total IRD traded notional.
- IRD traded notional referencing SONIA increased to $17.0 trillion in 2020 compared to $8.1 trillion in 2019. SONIA transactions accounted for 7.4% of total IRD traded notional.
Documents (1) for Transition to RFRs Review: Full Year 2020 and the Fourth Quarter of 2020
Latest
ISDA AGM Studio: Nnamdi Okaeme & John Pucciarelli
Marking the 10‑year anniversary of the ISDA Standard Initial Margin Model (ISDA SIMM), Joel Clark, senior director, communications, at ISDA, speaks with Nnamdi Okaeme, ISDA’s head of SIMM, and John Pucciarelli, head of partnerships and director of industry engagement at...
Response on Legal Frameworks for Carbon Credits
On May 4, ISDA and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) responded to the European Commission’s (EC) consultation on a legal framework for the inclusion of international carbon credits within the EU’s 2040 climate law framework. In the...
ISDA AGM Studio: Julia Hueckel and Chris Zuehlke
Julia Hueckel, director of global regulatory policy at Coinbase, and Chris Zuehlke, global head of Cumberland and partner at DRW, speak with Nicolette Cone, ISDA’s chief of staff and associate general counsel, on the rapidly evolving legislative framework for digital...
ISDA In Review – April 2026
A compendium of links to new documents, research papers, press releases and comment letters published by ISDA in April 2026.
