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What Is an Asset Swap?
Let me explain what an asset swap is: it's a derivative contract where you and another party exchange fixed and floating assets. Floating assets are those that change in quantity or value over time. Most of these swaps deal with cash flows tied to a notional principal amount, along with an actual exchange of assets.
You won't find swaps trading on exchanges, and retail investors like you typically don't get involved. Instead, these are over-the-counter (OTC) contracts handled between businesses or financial institutions.
Key Takeaways
Here's what you need to know: an asset swap transforms a financial instrument with cash flows you don't want into one with favorable ones. The parties involved are the protection seller and the swap buyer. The seller pays an asset swap spread, which is the overnight rate plus or minus a pre-calculated spread.
Asset Swap Process
Asset swaps are tools you can use to hedge against currency, credit, or interest rate risks. They overlay the fixed interest rates from bond coupons with floating rates. As an investor, you acquire a bond position and then enter an interest rate swap with the bank that sold you the bond.
In this setup, you as the swap or protection buyer purchase a bond from the seller at a 'dirty price,' which is the par value plus accrued interest. You then contract to pay the seller fixed coupon payments matching what you get from the bond. In return, the seller pays you a floating rate based on a benchmark, plus or minus a fixed spread.
The swap matures at the same time as the asset. You're essentially buying protection, and the seller is providing it. If there's a default, you continue receiving payments from the seller, adjusted by the spread.
Fast Fact
Banks rely on asset swaps to convert their long-term fixed-rate assets into floating-rate ones, matching them to short-term liabilities.
Calculating Spread
The asset swap spread is the difference between the bond's yield and the corresponding swap rate. It shows the premium or discount you as the bondholder receive or pay compared to the swap rate, usually in basis points.
Bond yield is the discount rate where the present value of the bond's cash flows matches its market price. The swap rate is the fixed rate in the contract where the fixed leg's value equals the floating leg's.
Asset swaps generally use the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), which banks apply to price U.S. dollar-denominated derivatives and loans. SOFR comes from transactions in the Treasury repurchase market, where investors provide banks with overnight loans backed by bond assets.
Example of an Asset Swap
Suppose you run a business and buy a bond at a dirty price of 110%, wanting to hedge against the issuer defaulting. The bond pays fixed coupons at 6% of par value. The swap rate is 5%, and you have to pay a 0.5% premium over the swap's life. The asset swap spread comes out to 0.5% (that's 6% minus 5% minus 0.5%). So, the bank pays you SOFR rates plus 0.5% throughout the swap.
How Do Asset Swaps Differ From Plain Vanilla Swaps?
A plain vanilla swap is the simplest type out there, often used to hedge floating interest rate exposure. Asset swaps are like them, but the key difference is the underlying asset in the contract.
How Do Asset Swaps Help Prevent Credit Risk Loss?
Asset swaps protect you against losses from credit risks like default or bankruptcy of the bond issuer. As the swap buyer, you're also buying protection. Some can get complex, like asset-swapped convertible option transactions (ASCOT), which separate a bond's fixed-income and equity parts.
What Is the Difference Between a Positive or Negative Asset Swap Spread?
If the spread is positive, you as the bondholder get a premium for taking on the bond's credit risk. If it's negative, you pay a premium to remove that credit risk.
The Bottom Line
To wrap this up, an asset swap is a derivative contract where you and another party exchange fixed and floating assets. These deals happen OTC, based on terms you both agree on.
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