Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Submitted by:
Ashray Sawhney, D-14
Awanish Kumar, D-15
Badri Narayan Goswami, D-16
Bipul Kumar, D-17
Deepak Kumar, D-18
Deepika Rana, D-19
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INDEX
Page
Name Topic
No.
Badri Narayan
Goswami Introduction to the Major Risks Faced by
Banks 3-8
D-16
Ashray Sawhney
Interest Rate Risk Management
D-14 15-19
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Introduction to the Major Risks Faced by Banks
Over the decades, the financial services industry has undergone significant transformation due to
internal and external factors, including business model transformation, adoption of advanced
technologies, changing regulatory environments, etc. Modern banking sector is a highly complex
ecosystem, where stakeholders of different backgrounds — internet, tech companies, startups —
play an increasingly influential role.
In its simplest sense, risk could be defined as the uncertainty of an event to occur in the future. In
the banking context, it’s the exposure to the uncertainty of an outcome, where exposure could be
defined as the position/stake a bank takes in the market.
If history was any indication, banks have borne billions in losses due to imprudent risk-taking. It
is hence vital to understand the different types of risks faced by every bank in 2018 and beyond.
1. Business/Strategic risk
2. Compliance risk
3. Credit risk
4. Cybersecurity Risk
5. Liquidity risk
6. Market risk
7. Moral hazard
8. Open Banking Risk
9. Operational risk
10. Reputational risk
11. Systemic risk
1. Business/Strategic risk
Business risk is the risk arising from a bank’s business strategy in the long term. When a bank
fails to adapt to the changing environment as quickly as their competitors, it faces the risk of
losing market share, getting acquired, or shutting shop.Technology is changing the banking
landscape at an incredibly rapid pace. Banks need to rethink the outdated framework of the core
banking systems, rethink the design of their end to end tech stack and build upon efficient and
quicker bank end systems to turn around and meet the demand of the largely impatient digital
consumer.
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We already see progressive banks like BBVA, DBS, make strides in technological innovation to
meet changing consumer demands — whether through strategic partnerships, acquisitions, or in-
house developments. Moreover, the non-financial tech players like Google, Amazon, Alibaba,
Tencent are either aggressively acquiring or investing in the in-house development of new age
technologies to offer certain financial services to their vast user bases.
2. Compliance Risk
In February this year, U.S. Bancorp agreed to pay $613 million in penalties to state and federal
authorities for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and a faulty AML program. This was a result
of the banks’ failure to adopt and implement an effective compliance program with adequate
internal controls, testing, and training.
According to the Bank of International Settlements(BIS), in the banking context, compliance risk
is defined as the risk of legal or regulatory sanctions, material financial loss, or loss to reputation
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a bank may suffer as a result of its failure to comply with laws, regulations, rules, related self-
regulatory organization standards, and codes of conduct applicable to its banking activities.
It is imperative for banks to establish an infrastructure to organize and analyze data and
efficiently manage legal documentation. The senior management of a bank plays the crucial role
in formulating, communicating and managing compliance policies across all business units of the
bank to minimize compliance risk.
In the recent years, banks have begun to implement tech solutions(“RegTech”) across various
cases - data management, digital identity, e-KYC/AML/CFT, fraud monitoring and control,
governance, internal integrity, regulatory reporting, risk management, etc. Startups like Trulioo,
Signzy, Onfido have been working with banks to enable digital identities and provide seamless
customer onboarding by using effective tools that collect and assess large volumes of data and
perform related tasks.
3. Credit risk
Credit risk is the one that most would be familiar with as economies continue to recover from the
more recent occurrence in the history of financial services: the subprime crisis. Both global and
national banks suffered heavy losses due to incorrect evaluation and monitoring of potential
default rates on mortgage payments by subprime borrowers. This fiasco resulted in billions of
dollars in damages and millions to be jobless overnight.
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision defines credit risk as the potential that a bank
borrower, or counterparty, will fail to meet its payment obligations regarding the terms agreed
with the bank. It includes both uncertainty involved in repayment of the bank’s dues, and
repayment of dues on time.
4. Cybersecurity Risk
In May 2018, two of Canada’s largest banks, Bank of Montreal, and the Canadian Imperial Bank
of Commerce’s Simplii Financial confirmed hackers stole the personal and financial data of
more than 90,000 customers. While the banks took online security measures after the hackers
contacted them, it was surprising to see that these processes were not put in place before.
Cybersecurity risk is the most prevalent IT risk in the financial services industry. It refers to the
risk undertaken by a financial institution to keep electronic information private and safe from
damage, misuse or theft.
Cybersecurity risk is as much of a people risk as it is technology risk. The risk arises from a
range of external and internal factors at banks such as:
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1. Lack of user privilege segregation
2. Missing transaction business controls
3. Poor password policies;
4. Inadequate logical access controls
5. Shortcomings in personnel vetting
The key to mitigating the cybersecurity risk is to ensure that the controls are applied across all
business units and divisions to ensure that no permissions to access are granted
unintentionally/without prior knowledge.
5. Liquidity risk
Northern Rock, a small bank in Northern Ireland, had a small depositors’ base and hence
financed a significant portion of its loans by securitization. In 2007–08, during the subprime
crisis, the bank was unable to sell the loans to other banks that it had originated in the form of
new loans resulting in investors withdrawing their money from the bank. This resulted in a
liquidity crunch, which led to the bailout by the government and an eventual government
takeover. This is a classic example of how imprudent management of liquidity risk can ruin a
bank.
Liquidity management can be defined as the risk of a bank not being able to finance its day to
day operations. Failure to manage this risk could lead to severe consequences for the bank’s
reputation as well as the bond pricing and ratings of the bank in the money market.
6. Market risk
According to The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, market risk can be defined as the
risk of losses in on- or off-balance sheet positions that arise from movement in market prices.\
The four components of market risk are:
Interest risk: potential losses due to a change in interest rates. Requires Banking
Asset/Liability management.
Equity risk: potential losses due to change in stock prices as banks accept equity against
disbursing loans.
Commodity risk: potential losses due to change in commodity (agricultural, industrial,
energy) prices. Massive fluctuations occur in these prices due to continuous variations in
demand and supply. Banks may hold them as part of their investments, and hence face
losses.
Foreign Exchange risk: potential loss due to change in the value of the bank’s assets or
liabilities resulting from exchange rate fluctuations as banks transact with their
customers/other stakeholders in multiple currencies.
Moral hazard occurs when the bank decides the magnitude of the risk to be undertaken with the
knowledge that a counterparty bears the cost of the risk taken.
Once again, the subprime crisis proves to be a classic example of this. Banks risked depositors’
money to facilitate transactions of very risky instruments, knowing they would not face the
consequences directly. Top management of all banks can be prone to moral hazard.
While this will push banks to aim at being fully digital, and make customer data more accessible
for the ecosystem to build superior products on, it could also create an environment that would
enable more fraud.
9. Operational risk
Barings, one of the oldest British Banks in 1995, collapsed due to mismanagement of operational
risk. One of its traders successfully hid his trading losses for more than two years due to
inefficient and inadequate internal controls. He authorized his own trades without any approvals.
The supervisors only noticed once the losses became huge and couldn’t be hidden any longer. It
was, however, too late.
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision defines operational risk as the risk of loss
resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people, and systems or external events.
All banks(full service/others) face operational risks in their day to day BAUs across all their
departments including treasury, credit, investment, information technology.
The fraud, incidentally, is 49X the net profit posted by PNB for the quarter ending December 31,
2017, and more than twice the amount that PNB got under bank recapitalization plan. This scam
has caused immense mistrust in the bank’s internal controls and checks causing massive damage
not only to its market capitalization but more importantly its reputation in the country.
Reputational risk implies the public’s loss of confidence in a bank due to a negative perception
or image that could be created with/without any evidence of wrongdoing by the bank.
Reputational value is often measured in terms of brand value. Advertisements play a significant
role in forming & maintaining the public perception, which is the key reason for banks spend
millions in content marketing dollars.
The Volatility Index(or VIX) is a good measure of systemic risk. Systemic risk, in itself, would
not lead to direct losses. However, in a scenario where VIX is at high levels, there is a high
probability of market risks(and other risks) to reach very high levels which would eventually
lead to losses.
Conclusion
Banks can exercise a large degree of control over certain risks by enabling and investing in
efficient internal and external controls, systems and processes. They can also manage some types
of risk by ensuring meticulous, tech-driven audits and compliance. Some risks such as systemic
risk, which the banks have little or no control over, can only be mitigated if banks have a strong
capital base, to ensure a sound infrastructure. For further clarification we will be discussing more
about Interest rate and Liquid risk.
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Asset liability Management
Asset liability management (ALM) can be defined as the comprehensive and dynamic framework for
measuring, monitoring and managing the financial risks associated with changing interest rates, foreign
exchange rates and other factors that can affect the organisation’s liquidity .ALM relates to management
of structure of balance sheet (liabilities and assets) in such a way that the net earning from interest is
maximised within the overall risk-preference (present and future) of the institutions. Thus the ALM
functions includes the tools adopted to mitigating liquidly risk, management of interest rate risk / market
risk and trading risk management. In short, ALM is the sum of the financial risk management of any
financial institution.
Liquidity Risk
Currency risk
Through ALM banks try to match the assets and liabilities in terms of Maturities and Interest Rates
Sensitivities so as to minimize the interest rate risk and liquidity risk.
Asset/liability management is also used in banking, given that a bank must pay interest on deposits, and
also charges a rate of interest on loans. To manage these two variables, bankers track the net interest
margin, or the difference between the interest paid on deposits and interest earned on loans. Assume, for
example, that a bank earns an average rate of 6% on three-year loans and pays a 4% rate on three-year
certificates of deposit. The interest rate margin the bank generates is 6% - 4% = 2%. Since banks are
subject to interest rate risk, or the risk that interest rates increase, clients demand higher interest rates on
their deposits to keep assets at the bank.
Liquidity Risk
Measuring and managing liquidity needs are vital activities of commercial banks. By assuring a bank's
ability to meet its liabilities as they become due, liquidity management can reduce the probability of an
adverse situation developing. The importance of liquidity transcends individual institutions, as liquidity
shortfall in one institution can have repercussions on the entire system. Bank management should measure
not only the liquidity positions of banks on an ongoing basis but also examine how liquidity requirements
are likely to evolve under crisis scenarios. Experience shows that assets Commonly considered as liquid
like Government securities and other money market instruments could also become illiquid when the
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market and players are unidirectional. Therefore liquidity has to be tracked through maturity or cash flow
mismatches. For measuring and managing net funding requirements, the use of a maturity ladder and
calculation of cumulative surplus or deficit of funds at selected maturity dates is adopted as a standard tool.
Currency Risk
Floating exchange rate arrangement has brought in its wake pronounced volatility adding a new
dimension to the risk profile of banks' balance sheets. The increased capital flows across free
economies following deregulation have contributed to increase in the volume of transactions.
Large cross border flows together with the volatility has rendered the banks' balance sheet.
vulnerable to exchange rate movements.
Dealing in different currencies brings opportunities as also risks. If the liabilities in one currency
exceed the level of assets in the same currency, then the currency mismatch can add value or
erode value depending upon the currency movements. The simplest way to avoid currency risk is
to ensure that mismatches, if any, are reduced to zero or near zero. Banks undertake operations in
foreign exchange like accepting deposits, making loans and advances and quoting prices for
foreign exchange transactions. Irrespective of the strategies adopted, it may not be possible to
eliminate currency mismatches altogether. Besides, some of the institutions may take proprietary
trading positions as a conscious business strategy.
Managing Currency Risk is one more dimension of Asset- Liability Management. Mismatched
currency position besides exposing the balance sheet to movements in exchange rate also
exposes it to country risk and settlement risk. Ever since the RBI (Exchange Control
Department) introduced the concept of end of the day near square position in 1978, banks have
been setting up overnight limits and selectively undertaking active day time trading. Following
the introduction of "Guidelines for Internal Control over Foreign Exchange Business" in 1981,
maturity mismatches (gaps) are also subject to control. Following the recommendations of
Expert Group on Foreign Exchange Markets in India (Sodhani Committee) the calculation of
exchange position has been redefined and banks have been given the discretion to set up
overnight limits linked to maintenance of additional Tier I capital to the extent of 5 per cent of
open position limit.
Presently, the banks are also free to set gap limits with RBI's approval but are required to
adopt Value at Risk (VaR) approach to measure the risk associated with forward exposures. Thus
the open position limits together with the gap limits form the risk management approach to forex
operations. For monitoring such risks banks should follow the instructions contained in Circular
A.D (M. A. Series) No.52 dated December 27, 1997 issued by the Exchange Control
Department.
An important ratio used in managing assets and liabilities is the asset coverage ratio which
computes the value of assets available to pay a firm’s debts. The ratio is calculated as:
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Asset Coverage Ratio = [(BV Total Assets - Intangible Assets) – (Current Liabilities - ST Debt
Obligations)] / Total Debt Outstanding
Tangible assets, such as equipment and machinery, are stated at their book value, which is the
cost of the asset less accumulated depreciation. Intangible assets such as patents, are subtracted
from the formula, because these assets are more difficult to value and sell. Debts payable in less
than 12 months are considered short-term debt, and those liabilities are also subtracted from the
formula. The coverage ratio computes the assets available to pay debt obligations, although the
liquidation value of some assets, such as real estate, may be difficult to calculate. There is no rule
of thumb for what a good or poor ratio is, since calculations vary by industry.
The Assets and Liabilities of the bank’s B/Sheet are nothing but future cash inflows & outflows. Under
Asset Liability Management i.e. ALM, these inflows & outflows are grouped into different time
buckets. Then each bucket of assets is matched with the corresponding bucket of liability.
The differences in each bucket are known as mismatches. banks can even make money as a result of such
mismatches sometimes. Alam Greenspan, ex-Chairman of US Federal Reserve has once observed “risk
taking is necessary condition for wealth creation”. However, it is a risky proposition to keep large
mismatches as it can lead to massive losses in a volatile market. Therefore, in practice, the idea is to
limit the mismatches rather than aim at zero mismatches.
In view of the regulated environment in India in 1970s to early 1990s, there was no interest rate risk as
the interest rate were regulated and prescribed by RBI. Spreads between deposits and lending rates were
very wide. At that time banks Balance Sheets were not being managed by banks themselves as they were
being managed through prescriptions of the regulatory authority and the government. With the
deregulation of interest rates, banks were given a large amount of freedom to manage their Balance
sheets. Thus, it became necessary to introduce ALM guidelines so that banks can be prevented from big
losses on account of wide ALM mismatches.
Reserve Bank of India issued its first ALM Guidelines in February 1999, which was made effective from
1 st April 1999. These guidelines covered, inter alia, interest rate risk and liquidity risk measurement/
reporting framework and prudential limits. Gap statements were required to be prepared by scheduling all
assets and liabilities according to the stated or anticipated re-pricing date or maturity date. The Assets
and Liabilities at this stage were required to be divided into 8 maturity buckets (1-14 days; 15-28 days;
29-90 days; 91-180 days; 181-365 days, 1-3 years and 3-5 years and above 5 years), based on the
remaining period to their maturity (also called residual maturity).. All the liability figures were to be
considered as outflows while the asset figures were considered as inflows.
As a measure of liquidity management, banks were required to monitor their cumulative mismatches
across all time buckets in their statement of structural liquidity by establishing internal prudential limits
with the approval of their boards/ management committees. As per the guidelines, in the normal course,
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the mismatches (negative gap) in the time buckets of 1-14 days and 15-28 days were not to exceed 20 per
cent of the cash outflows in the respective time buckets
Later on RBI made it mandatory for banks to form ALCO (Asset Liability Committee) as a Committee
of the Board of Directors to track, monitor and report ALM.
It was in September, 2007, in response to the international practices and to meet the need for a sharper
assessment of the efficacy of liquidity management and with a view to providing a stimulus for
development of the term-money market, RBI fine tuned these guidelines and it was provided that the
banks may adopt a more granular approach to measurement of liquidity risk by splitting the first time
bucket (1-14 days at present) in the Statement of Structural Liquidity into three time buckets viz., 1 day
(called next day) , 2-7 days and 8-14 days. Thus, banks were asked to put their maturing asset and
liabilities in 10 time buckets.
Thus as per October 2007 RBI guidelines, banks were advised that the net cumulative negative
mismatches during the next day, 2-7 days, 8-14 days and 15-28 days should not exceed 5%, 10%, 15%
and 20% of the cumulative outflows, respectively, in order to recognize the cumulative impact on
liquidity. Banks were also advised to undertake dynamic liquidity management and prepare the statement
of structural liquidity on a daily basis. In the absence of a fully networked environment, banks were
allowed to compile the statement on best available data coverage initially but were advised to make
conscious efforts to attain 100 per cent data coverage in a timely manner. Similarly, the statement of
structural liquidity was to be reported to the Reserve Bank, once a month, as on the third Wednesday of
every month. The frequency of supervisory reporting of the structural liquidity position was increased to
fortnightly, with effect from April 1, 2008. Banks are now required to submit the statement of structural
liquidity as on the first and third Wednesday of every month to the Reserve Bank.
Board’s of the Banks were entrusted with the overall responsibility for the management of risks and
required to decide the risk management policy and set limits for liquidity, interest rate, foreign exchange
and equity price risks.
Asset-Liability Committee (ALCO), the top most committee to oversee the implementation of ALM
system is to be headed by CMD /ED. ALCO considers product pricing for both deposits and advances,
the desired maturity profile of the incremental assets and liabilities in addition to monitoring the risk
levels of the bank. It will have to articulate current interest rates view of the bank and base its decisions
for future business strategy on this view.
ALM is bank specific control mechanism, but it is possible that several banks may employ similar ALM
techniques or each bank may use unique system.
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Gap Analysis : Gap Analysis is a technique of Asset – Liability management . It is used to assess
interest rate risk or liquidity risk. It measures at a given point of time the gaps between Rate Sensitive
Liabilities (RSL) and Rate Sensitive Assets (RSA) (including off balance sheet position) by grouping them
into time buckets according to residual maturity or next re-pricing period , whichever is earlier. An asset or
liability is treated as rate sensitive if;
Thus ; GAP=RSA-RSL
GAP Ratio=RSAs/RSL
Gap analysis was widely used by financial institutions during late 1990s and early years of present century
in India. The table below gives you idea who does a positive or negative gap would impact on NII in case
there is upward or downward movement of interest rates:
This is an alternative method for measuring interest-rate risk. This technique examines the sensitivity of
the market value of the financial institution’s net worth to changes in interest rates. Duration analysis is
based on Macaulay’s concept of duration, which measures the average lifetime of a security’s stream of
payments.
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We know that Duration is an important measure of the interest rate sensitivity of assets and liabilities as it
takes into account the time of arrival of cash flows and the maturity of assets and liabilities. It is the weighted
average time to maturity of all the preset values of cash flows. Duration basically refers to the average life
of the asset or the liability. DP /p =D ( dR /1+R) The above equation describes the percentage fall in price
of the bond for a given increase in the required interest rates or yields.
The larger the value of the duration, the more sensitive is the price of that asset or liability to changes in
interest rates. Thus, as per this theory, the bank will be immunized from interest rate risk if the duration
gap between assets and the liabilities is zero. The duration model has one important benefit. It uses the
market value of assets and liabilities.
Duration analysis summarises with a single number exposure to parallel shifts in the term structure of
interest rates.
It can be noticed that both gap and duration approaches worked well if assets and liabilities comprised
fixed cash flows. However options such as those embedded in mortgages or callable debt posed problems
that gap analysis could not address. Duration analysis could address these in theory, but implementing
sufficiently sophisticated duration measures was problematic.
Scenario Analysis :
Under the scenario analysis of ALM several interest rate scenarios are created during next 5 to 10 years .
Such scenarios might specify declining interest rates , rising interests rates, a gradual decrease in rates
followed by sudden rise etc. Different scenarios may specify the behavior of the entire yield curve, so
there could be scenarios with flattening yield curve, inverted yield curves etc. Ten to twenty scenarios
might be specified to have a holistic view of the scnario analysis. Next assumptions would be made
about the performances of assets and liabilities under each scenario. Assumptions might include
prepayment rates on mortgages and surrender rates on insurance products. Assumptions may also be
made about the firms performance . Based upon these assumptions the performance of the firm’s balance
sheet could be projected under each scenario. If projected performance was poor under specific scenario
the ALCO might adjust assets or liabilities to address the indicated exposure . A short coming of scenario
analysis is the fact that it is highly dependent on the choice of scenario. It also requires that many
assumptions be made about how specific assets or liabilities will perform under specific scenario.
Value at Risk
VaR or Value ar Risk refers to the maximum expected loss that a bank can suffer over a target horizon,
given a certain confidence interval. It enables the calculation of market risk of a portfolio for which no
historical data exists. It enables one to calculate the net worth of the organization at any particular point of
time so that it is possible to focus on long term risk implications of decisions that have already been taken
or that are going to be taken. It is used extensively for measuring the market risk of a portfolio of assets
and/or liabilities.
Conclusion:
We can conclude to say that ALM is an important tool for monitoring, measuring and managing the
interest rate risk, liquidity risk and foreign currency risk of a bank. With the deregulation of interest
regime in India , the banking industry has been exposed to interest rate risk / market risk . Hence to
manage such risk, ALM needs to be used so that the management is able to assess the risks and cover
some of these by taking appropriate decisions.
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INTEREST RATE RISK MANAGEMENT
Interest rate risk management is the banks financial condition which is exposed to the adverse
movements in the interest rates. If it is accepted and managed as a normal part of the business of
banking, it can be used the enhance the shareholder value and the profitability. However, when
the interest rate risk is high, it could lead to substantial volatility in the earning and affect the
value of the bank’s off-balance sheet instruments, liabilities or even the assets. Hence, a risk
management process which is effective, whose aim is the sound financial health of the bank,
would have to keep the interest rate under check. There are two most common perspective for
assessing the banks interest rate exposure:
a) Earnings Perspective: This focuses on the short-term earnings
b) Economic Value Perspective: This looks at the long-term economic viability of the bank
The ‘Earnings Perspective’ assesses the impact of the changes in the interest rates on the ‘Net
Interest Income’ (NII), which is the difference in the total interest paid on borrowings and
deposits and the total interest earned from the investments and loans given, of the bank. This is
known as a traditional method of risk assessment because a low or reduced net interest income
could affect the market confidence and even threaten the financial stability of the bank.
However, banks today have been able to generate income which is non-interest from fee-based
activities like transaction processing, managing securitization pools, off-balance sheet
transactions, loan servicing etc, most of which depend on the way the credit markets perform.
Hence, a major chunk of this fee-based income can be interest sensitive, and the banks would
have to analyse the impact of the interest rate variations on the net income.
The value or the expected value is the present value of the expected net cash flow in the future,
which is discounted in the market rates. The expected net cash flow is the difference between the
expected cash flow on the assets and the expected cash flow on the liabilities, plus the net cash
flow arising from the off-balance sheet activities. Variations in the market interest rates impacts
the economic value of the off-balance sheet positions, banking assets and the liabilities. The
sensitivity of the bank’s economic to the fluctuations in the market interest rate is of great
importance to the stake holders (the management, directors, supervisors and the investors),
because if the economic value of the bank fluctuates, the net worth of the bank fluctuates
accordingly. Thus, it is evident that the economic value perspective is long term and more
comprehensive than the earnings perspective and realistically it cannot impact the interest rate
movement on the bank’s overall positions, and hence the financial health is in the long run.
But the banks financial performance is not always impacted by the future interest rates. The
interest rates in the past also effects the banks future performance. For example, a fixed rate,
long term loan contract may have to be refinanced at a higher rate of interest during the tenure of
the loan. The securities market may not contain the embedded gains or losses due to the
movement in the interest rate of the past, which could impact the bank’s earning over time in the
banks earnings. Hence, the impact of such gains and losses due to the fluctuations in the interest
rate would have to be assessed realistically.
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Some of the common sources of interest rate risk are as follows:
a) Repricing Risk: This is the primary and the most frequently discussed form of the
interest rate risk which arises when the average cost of the liabilities or the average yield
on the banks assets are more sensitive to the changes in the market interest rates. This
difference in the sensitivity could arise from the possible mismatches in the liability and
the assets characteristics of the bank:
i) The fixed rate asset and the fixed rate liability could have different
maturity dates.
ii) Floating rate assets and liabilities could have different repricing periods,
with different base rates. For example, the liabilities could reprice in a
three-year period, whereas the assets could reprise in a one-year period.
iii) Floating rate assets and liabilities could have base rates which are of
different maturities, such as assets that reprice annually based in a long-
term rate and liability that reprices on a short-term base.
iv) In countries with deregulated interest rates, the bank may change the
interest rates at will, and the rate setting policies of the banks follow
determine the effective repricing behaviour of such an instrument. The
difference in the pricing could depend on a number of factors in addition
to the market interest rate, like the expected behaviour of the customers to
the bank in competition and the extent of competition in the market.
v) In some countries, the banks give the option to repay the bank loan at a
very low (or no) cost or to withdraw their deposits whenever they want
with no penalties. The decisions of the customers of repaying the loan
would influence the average pricing of the assets and liabilities to the
changes in the market rates. For example, a bank which funds a long-term
fixed-rate loan with a short-term deposit would face a decline in both the
future income arising from the position and its underlying value if the
interest rate increase. This decline arises because the cash flow on the
loans are fixed over its lifetime, while the interest which is paid on the
funding are variable and increases after the short-term deposit matures.
b) Yield Curve Risk: The yield of the bank’s liabilities and assets adjust to the changes in
the market rates. Even if they change to the same extent, a bank may still be under the
yield curve risk. A yield curve risk is the possibility that changes in the shape of the yield
curve could have differential effect on the assets and liabilities of the bank. For example,
if the assets and liabilities of the bank reprised annually, it would want to balance a
medium-term base rate for its assets with a mixture of short-term and long-term base
rates for its liabilities. This leads to an increased curvature of the yield curve which
would boost the medium-term yields relative to the short and the long-term yields, and
thus it would affect the rate of the banks assets to the relative average cost of its liabilities
and reduce the short-term earnings volatility.
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The reprising mismatches could expose the bank to changes in the shape and slope of the
bank’s yield curve. The yield curve risk arises when the unanticipated shifts to the yield
curve has adverse effects on the bank’s income and the underlying economic value.
c) Basis Risk: If the banking instruments have base rates which are different, the banks are
exposed to what is known as the basis risk. For example, the yields on the floating rates
of the bank could be tied to the yields of the government security, while those with the
floating rate liabilities could be base on the interbank rate such as the Libor. There is a
possible outcome that the two base rates can diverge unexpectedly owing to the differing
credit risk or liquidity characteristics, which might increase the private yields relative to
the yields of the government securities. In such a case, the cost of the bank’s liabilities
will increase relative to the yield on the assets, thus lowering the bank’s earnings.
d) Optionality: This is an increasing important source of interest rate risk which arises from
the options embedded in many banks off-balance sheet portfolios, liabilities and assets.
Stated simply, the option provides the holder the right, but not obligation, to sell, buy or
in some manner alter the cash flow of an instrument or financial contract. Options may be
over the counter or exchange-traded options or may be embedded within the otherwise
standard instruments. While the banks are exchange-traded and OTC options in both
trading and non-trading accounts, instruments with embedded options are generally more
important than non-trading activities. For example, bonds and securities may include
options. Call options are exercised by the by issuers to redeem bonds before they mature.
Such kind of options exposes the banks to interest rate risk.
Other example of this kind instruments with embedded options would be the loans that
give the borrowers the right to prepay the balances, or transaction deposit instruments
that give the depositors the right to withdraw their funds any time, without any penalties.
If this is not manged adequately, the payoff’s asymmetrical characteristics of instruments
with optionality feature can pose risk which are significant to those who sell them, since
both explicit and embedded options are held, and are generally exercised to the advantage
of the holder and to the disadvantage to the seller. Also, an increasing array of options
can involve significant leverage which can magnify the influences, which can be both
negative and positive, of option positions on the financial condition of the firm.
e) Other sources of Risk: Banks may also have an interest risk because of the interest rate
risk through the interest sensitivity of their non-interest income. For example, interest
rates which are lower, could lead to prepayments (with interest of refinancing the loans),
that would deplete the pool of loans serviced by the bank, which reduce its fee income,
which would lead to a ‘prepayment’ risk. In a scenario, where the interest rates are
declining, the cash inflows from the prepayments could be used to invest at a lower
interest rates, thus leading to a volatility in the earning. The substantial interest rate
exposures embedded in the off-balance sheet positions of large banks are significant and
are held as a hedge for their on-balance sheet interest rate exposures or as a result of their
trading activities in the derivative markets.
ASHRAY SAWHNEY D-14
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Banks will have a mix of the above interest rate risk, with some offsetting or reinforcing one
another. It is the complexity of the resulting combination of factors which makes interest rate
risk difficult to manage. The management of the interest risk depends on predicting how the
interest rates would behave in the future. If the interest rates can be accurately forecasted, the
risk of interest rate fluctuations can be mitigated to a great extent.
I. SWAPS
This is an important and interesting area under fixed income derivatives. It is an example of a
structured transaction to hedge risks in a fixed income investment.
A swap essentially is a contract between counter parties to exchange a series of intermediate cash
flows arising throughout the tenor/life of the swap. Almost every swap contract comes under an
interest rate swap. Most of them are basically variants of interest rate swaps.
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Here’s a simple example to illustrate a fixed for floating swap. We all know that a bank takes
deposits and makes loans. Let’s assume that for the deposits Bank A takes, they pay a fixed rate
of interest say 5%. For the loans they make let’s assume they charge a floating rate of interest
which is the LIBOR (say 3%) plus a spread (3%) over it to account for the riskiness of the
borrower. The spread is fixed but the LIBOR keeps changing. If for example LIBOR falls to 1%
or below by year end, banks will be paying a constant 5% on deposits but charging lesser on their
loans. In order to safeguard against this risk of making a lower interest margin ultimately due to
rates falling they enter into an IRS with another Bank B. Bank A currently pays fixed and receives
floating on its deposits and loans respectively. They will enter into an IRS with Bank B to pay
floating and receive fixed for a certain time period, say 3 years.
Effectively, the structure of the transaction will look like this:
The Swap Rate here is only indicative – a no arbitrage rate has been calculated. By paying floating
on the swap, Bank A’s exposure to interest rates falling are benefited. If rates go up above 5%,
Bank A still benefits since it pays a lower rate on its deposits and the higher rate will anyway be
passed on through the loans it makes which finance the swap’s floating leg. Here Bank B act as a
counter party to Bank A, simply because they would be having the opposite exposure where they
pay floating on their deposits and receive fixed on their loans. As mentioned earlier, the swap
payments/cash flows are based on a notional amount.
Counter parties agree to do a swap since they have either have opposite views or exposures to the
underlying.
CURRENCY SWAP
These are also called Cross Currency Swaps or Cross Currency Interest Rate Swaps. A good way
to refer to it is “Xccy IRS.” As you would guess, this is a variant of an IRS, the difference being
two different currencies involved.
A typical transaction would be Bank A (Japanese bank) borrowing say $10m (Notional amount)
@ 5% p.a. and lending ¥100m (Notional amount) @ 3% p.a. to Bank B (US bank) for 5 years as
part of a Xccy swap. Bank A pays B $500,000 to Bank B while Bank B pays ¥3m to Bank A as
swap payments every year throughout the life of the swap.
USES OF SWAPS
Just like any other derivative contract, swaps are used as a tool to hedge risk. They can also be
used as a tool to speculate on interest rates where a counter party may not be having an original
exposure. Thirdly, they can be used to make arbitrage gains if the swap rates are slightly mispriced
– here the mispricing difference gets quickly noticed whereby multiple entities would like to make
a riskless profit ultimately making this demand and supply lead to an equilibrium rate which cannot
be arbitraged away.
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In the case of a Swaption, the strike price is replaced by a strike rate, an interest rate based on
which the buyer can choose to exercise the option and the underlying is a swap.
Example: ABC buys a 3-year Swaption where they pay fixed and receive floating (they buy a
payer Swaption) at a strike rate of 2% exercisable at the end of one year. At expiration, if the
reference rate is greater than 2%, ABC will exercise the option following which the swap takes
effect for 3 years. If the reference rate is less than 2% the option will not be exercised.
A floor similarly would be combined with an FRN but by lenders. So, the lender of ABC Corp’s
bond would buy a floor to limit their exposure to interest rate changes. There are variants of caps
and floors one of them being ‘interest rate collars’ which are a combination of buying a cap and
selling a floor but let’s not get into that.
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ABC could also enter into a FRA to lend @ 5% on a notional amount for 3 months, starting after
6 months (a 6X9 FRA – a FRA expiring after 6 months to borrow money for 3 months). This helps
ABC in the event of 3-month interest rates going down at the end of 6 months from today.
The LCR focuses on the short term and is designed to ensure that a financial institution has
sufficient unencumbered high‐quality liquid resources to survive a severe liquidity stress
scenario lasting for 1 month. The ratio is calculated as:
Stock of high‐quality liquid assets/Total net cash outflows over the next 30 days (in a stress
situation) ≥ 100%
The highest quality liquid assets (for example, cash or government bonds) are included in the
calculation at their market value. Assets of a slightly lower quality, such as covered bonds and
securitisation paper, may also be counted if their ratings are above minimum thresholds, but will
be subject to a haircut.
Run‐off factors are applied to liabilities and off‐balance‐sheet commitments based on their
likelihood of withdrawal/drawdown in a stress.
Liquid assets
Liquid assets eligible for inclusion in the calculation were initially split into two categories
(Level 1 and Level 2), but this was subsequently increased to three (Level 1, Level 2A, and
Level 2B) to capture a broader range of securities:
Level 1: up to 100% of the total, comprising cash, deposits at the central bank
government/government guaranteed bonds, and covered bonds rated ECAI 1 (External Credit
Assessment Institutions – EU rating system) that meet certain conditions (subject to a 7% haircut
and a 70% cap in the liquidity buffer);
Level 2A: up to 40% of the total with a minimum haircut of 15%, comprising government bonds
with 20% risk weight, EU covered bonds rated ECAI 2, and non‐EU covered/corporate bonds
rated ECAI 2;
Level 2B: up to 15% of the total with a haircut of 25–50%, comprising RMBS, auto, SME, and
consumer loan securitisations, corporate bonds rated ECAI 3, shares that are part of a major
stock index, and other high‐quality covered bonds.
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DEEPAK KUMAR D-18
The Net Stable Funding Ratio 18020441081
In contrast to the LCR, the NSFR is a measure of structural liquidity and focuses on the longer‐
term horizon by placing a formal limit on the amount of maturity transformation that banks are
able to undertake. The required ratio is calculated as:
All assets (required amount of stable funding) and liabilities (available amount of stable funding)
are weighted according to their likelihood of still being on the balance sheet 12 months into the
future.
The implications of the Basel liquidity metrics for banks' funding and lending strategies
The new rules combined with banks' own desire to reduce liquidity risk have resulted in material
changes in balance sheet structures. The adjustment process began in 2008, so is now well
advanced. Initially, LCR/NSFR presented a compliance issue, but satisfying the ratios on an
ongoing basis is increasingly becoming an efficiency issue.
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Tighter control of undrawn commitments, particularly liquidity facilities, where the treatment
is asymmetric;
Increased consideration of the currency denomination of activities;
The generation of liquidity from long‐term assets.
For efficient balance sheet optimisation, a bank should consider how the above impacts its
business model and specific business lines, and seek to concentrate on those areas that provide
efficiency in both return and regulatory compliance.
Liabilities strategy
Under the strategic asset‐liability management (ALM) umbrella, there are a few core
components that are directly relevant to the liabilities strategy:
A single, integrated balance sheet approach that ties in asset origination with liabilities
raising;
Thus, asset type must be relevant and appropriate to funding type and source…;
…and the funding type and source must be appropriate to the asset type.
In order to apply these three key principles, it is important to undertake a comprehensive review
of the bank's balance sheet liabilities as a first step towards determining both the optimum
liability profile and then the overall liabilities strategy.
This exercise is more involved in the larger and more complex businesses, but critical
nonetheless.
The strategy setting is not a static or one‐off process. The objective is to arrive at a balance sheet
liability mix and structure by design, and one which is optimum from a strategic ALM
perspective, rather than one that is a result simply of history and business line BAU activity – in
other words, a passive inherited liability shape.
The liability structure of many EU and MENA banks have changed since 2007–2008 and have
focused on moving away from wholesale funds, both short term (supply) and long term
(demand), and move towards more non‐interest-bearing liabilities (NIBLs) and equity. This has
largely been driven by the introduction of the ILAS regime and subsequent LCR stress testing
regulatory metrics. Both of these stress tests penalise the use of wholesale funding and hence
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banks have diversified and focused on retail and NIBLs balances. For one high street UK bank,
NIBLs rose from 28% of liabilities and equity in 2007 to 41% in 2012.
In compiling the optimum liability mix targets, there are some important considerations that need
to be applied in the planning process. These revolve around:
Regulation;
Liquidity value (to what extent is a type of customer deposit or type beneficial towards
the final LCR or NSFR metric?);
Funding diversification/concentration;
Impact to net interest income (NII) and net interest margin (NIM);
NII sensitivity;
How to build the customer franchise
From a liquidity value perspective, a bank should seek to maximise funding from customer
relationship balances and minimise its reliance on wholesale inter‐bank funding.
In the UK, the Bank of England (BoE) publishes monthly data showing effective interest‐rate
paid on (sterling) deposit balances of UK household and UK non‐FI corporate sectors, split by
deposit type. It is a measure of back‐book deposit costs (in the UK), not front book (i.e. marginal
cost of new funds).
Through this peer review, one can compare the current bank levels to peer levels to establish
whether your bank is paying above the sector‐wide average and to establish a better
understanding of what your bank is paying for its deposits and assess if this can be improved.
We observe that for UK banks, 2‐year fixed‐rate bonds have reduced by ∼200bp since 2010,
from an average of 3.25% to 1.46%. For instant access liability products, this has reduced by
∼90bp from 1.44% to 0.54%.
Some liability products are sensitive to movements in interest rates and are referred to as NII‐
sensitive products. A high-volume sensitivity may not be a good thing as this could lead to
certain challenges, notably cannibalisation from other product types and “hot money”.
Cannibalisation from other deposit products offered by the bank can lead to a dramatically
different impact on NII than originally anticipated, especially if large volumes of deposits switch
to the new/repriced product from high margin accounts. Placing restrictions on who can apply
for certain products can attract the attention of the regulators.
The same can also be said of products that have been offered at below par rate. Deposit products
often have tiered rates and/or customer relationship managers are given the discretion to pay a
higher rate to protect/attract business. Average product margins can mask underlying trends.
The result of the liabilities mix review should be a medium‐term (for example, 3‐ to 5‐year)
strategy that specifies a precise target for:
The liabilities mix: how much do we wish of each funding type, and why;
What the drivers are;
What, if any, funding types are of less value and should be reduced or withdrawn from;
Plan for implementation.
This liabilities strategy review would be presented for ALCO approval and subsequent
implementation. This plan could include a series of initiatives that would be tracked at ALCO on
a regular basis to ensure that the balance sheet is tracking in the right direction and is being
measured by some key performance indicators.
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Tracking progress through ALCO
The liabilities strategic review output should articulate the high‐level deposits strategy. For
example, this could be a simple statement such as “The 2016 strategy is to retain current
balances and enhance the value of those retained balances for NIM” or “The medium‐term
strategy is to grow the deposit book by £2 billion”.
The ALCO review should have a level of product emphasis aligned to the specific initiatives that
the plan has identified such as focus on instant access savings or term deposits.
There should be a regular competitive analysis, as previously described, to ensure that pricing is
still relevant in the market and that process against key performance indicators is tracked
monthly and any variations clearly understood.
We consider now the liquid asset buffer (LAB), which can be a sizeable item on the asset side of
the balance sheet. The size of the LAB is determined purely by the quality of the liabilities mix
on the balance sheet, as it is required to offset the potential outflow of liabilities in a time of
stress, for example, a financial crisis.
All firms are required to hold buffers of liquid assets and it forms a key part of the PRA
requirement for liquidity, and this is now enshrined in global regulation by Basel III (the High-
Quality Liquid Assets (HQLA) portfolio). These assets must be uncorrelated to the institution –
so it cannot be the bank's own debt issued – nor can they be repo funded (i.e. unencumbered) and
should preferably be funded by long‐term (>90 days) liabilities.
Liquid assets are those that can be easily converted to cash at any time (including times of
stress), with little or no loss of value. They have certain characteristics that need to be fulfilled in
order to qualify as liquid assets. These characteristics can be divided into fundamental and
market components.
Under the Basel III LCR calculation, the liquidity value of differing types of liquid assets is
predetermined within the confines of the stress test.
Part of the LAB will be comprised of longer-term securities and so ALCO must agree an
interest‐rate risk (and credit risk) hedging approach, particularly for those assets that are fixed
rate.
Interest‐rate risk hedges may be transacted using interest‐rate swaps, short sterling futures (fixed‐
rate instruments up to 3 years), or LIFFE gilt futures (fixed‐rate instruments of over 3 years)
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DEEPAK KUMAR D-18
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Liquid asset buffer policy
Given the importance of the LAB, it is important to ensure that investment criteria are
established in line with the Board risk appetite of the firm. An integral part of the Board‐
approved liquidity risk management policy is that all banks must maintain a portfolio of high‐
quality genuinely liquid assets to act as a funding reserve against liabilities outflow in times of
stress.
The amount of liquid assets should cover the outflows projected from the bank's liquidity stress
tests, provide collateral for payment systems, and satisfy minimum regulatory requirements.
The Liquid asset buffer policy sets out the parameters in respect of the ownership, size, maturity,
and composition of the liquidity portfolio.
We continue our detailed look into the liquidity risk management process. We consider first the
regulatory aspect and the process of the “individual liquidity adequacy assessment process”
(ILAAP). We also review intra‐day liquidity risk and the importance of understanding the
liquidity risk aspects of having encumbered assets on the balance sheet.
Liquidity reporting
In the UK, in 2009–2010, in the wake of the financial crisis, the Financial Services Authority
(FSA, now Prudential Regulation Authority) introduced a series of new liquidity reports. The
most well-known of these reports are the FSA 047 (Daily Flows) and the FSA 048 (Enhanced
Mismatch Report), which show, respectively, contractual liquidity flows out to 3 months (for the
analysis of survival periods and potential liquidity squeezes), and liquidity mismatch positions
across the whole maturity spectrum.
The liquidity stress testing process involves the modelling of assumptions on how assets and
liabilities of a bank (inventory) will behave in various stress scenarios, to produce an output
for review and action by senior management.
Inventory
The inventory is the composition and maturity profile of the balance sheet (including off‐
balance‐sheet exposures) on a given date – a basic building block for all modelling activity.
Stress scenarios
The calculation of the LCR is based upon a stress scenario set by the regulatory authorities. In
contrast, the scenarios used for liquidity stress testing should be generated by banks and include
a range of idiosyncratic, market, and macroeconomic stresses. These should be severe, but
plausible and focus upon key vulnerabilities. Examples could include: a sustained period of
systems failure, a vulnerability to previously liquid markets becoming illiquid (for example,
commercial paper or securitisation), and heavy reliance on a particular sector for funding that
becomes no longer available (local authorities in a credit downgrade scenario).
A bank should undertake a regular review of whether its liquidity resources are sufficient to
cover the major sources of risk to the firm's ability to meet its liabilities as and when they fall
due. This “Individual Liquidity Adequacy Assessment Process” (ILAAP) should incorporate:
A clearly articulated risk appetite defining the duration and type of stress the firm aims to
survive;
A range of stress scenarios focusing upon key vulnerabilities of the firm;
The results of stress tests; and
Those measures set out in the Contingency Funding Plan that it would implement.
A bank should actively manage its intraday liquidity positions and risks to meet payment and
settlement obligations on a timely basis under both normal and stressed conditions and thus
contribute to the smooth running of payment and settlement systems.”
Intra‐day liquidity is defined as funds that can be accessed during the business day to enable
firms to make payments in real time. Intra‐day liquidity risk is the risk that a bank fails to
manage its intra‐day liquidity effectively, which could leave it unable to meet a payment
obligation at the time expected, thereby affecting its own liquidity position and that of other
parties.
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The Basel Committee and the EU recommend that a bank's usage of and requirement for intra‐
day liquidity are monitored in both normal and stressed conditions via eight metrics:
DEEPAK KUMAR D-18
1. Daily Maximum Liquidity Requirement;
2. 18020441081
Available Intra‐day Liquidity at the Start of the Business Day;
3. Total Payments;
4. Time Specific and Other Critical Obligations;
5. Value of Payments Made on Behalf of Correspondent Bank Customers;
6. Intra‐day Credit Lines Extended to Customers;
7. Timing of Intra‐day Payments;
8. Intra‐day Throughput.
Liquid assets required to manage a bank's intra‐day obligations cannot also be available to
support the LCR buffer. So, a bank's total liquidity requirement must include an allowance for all
of the items identified in figure.
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APPLICABILTY TO BANKS IN INDIA
Thereafter, the rise of the derivatives in India has been swift – Interest rate swaps and FRAs were
introduced as OTC products in July 1999, followed by several exchange-traded derivatives such
as equity index futures (2000), equity index options (June 2001), stock options and stock futures
later in the same year, and interest rate futures in June 2003.
In India, the different derivatives instruments are regulated by various regulators, such as Reserve
Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and Forwards Markets
Commission (FMC). Broadly, RBI is empowered to regulate the interest rate derivatives, foreign
currency derivatives and credit derivatives.
Typically, participants in this market are broadly classified into two functional categories, namely,
market-makers and users.
User: A user participates in the derivatives market to manage an underlying risk.
Market-maker: A market-maker provides bid and offer price to users and market-
makers. A market-maker need not have an underlying risk.
At present, the following types of derivative instruments are permitted, subject to conditions
and regulations in force:
Rupee interest rate derivatives: Interest Rate Swap (IRS), Forward Rate Agreement
(FRA), and Interest Rate Futures (IRF). IRS and FRA are OTC products, while
Interest rate futures are exchange traded.
Credit derivatives: Credit Default Swaps (CDS) on single name corporate bonds.
OTC Derivatives in India conventionally, OTC derivative contracts are classified based on the
underlying into (a) foreign exchange contracts, (b) interest rate contracts, (c) credit linked
contracts, (d) equity linked contracts, and (e) commodity linked contracts. The equity linked
contracts and commodity contracts have been relatively insignificant and are absent in the
domestic Indian OTC markets.
The structure of the OTC derivatives market (excluding equity and commodity linked derivatives)
is broadly depicted in the chart below. (Instruments in bold face indicate that these are traded in
the Indian market at present).
The Indian OTC derivatives markets is dominated by Forex derivatives, followed by interest rates.
In the OTC Forex derivatives, FX Swaps have been the most widely used instruments, followed
by the currency options and cross currency swaps.
In the Indian markets, four OTC interest rate products are traded viz., Overnight Index Swap based
on overnight MIBOR (Mumbai Inter Bank Offered Rate – a polled rate derived from the overnight
unsecured inter-bank market), contracts based on MIFOR (Mumbai Inter-Bank Forward Offered
Rate – a (LIBOR) and USD-INR forward premium), contracts based on INBMK (Indian
Benchmark Rate – a benchmark rate published by Reuters that represents yield for government
securities for a designated maturity), and contracts based on MIOSIS (Mumbai Interbank
Overnight Index Swap – a polled rate derived from the MIBOR rates of designated maturity).
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OTC Derivatives
A typical characteristic of the Indian interest rate market is that unlike in the overseas inter-bank
funds markets, there is very little activity in tenors beyond overnight and such as there is no
credible interest rate in segments other than overnight. Absence of a liquid 3-month or 6-month
funds market has been a hindrance for trading in Forward Rate Agreements (FRA), as also in
swaps based on these benchmarks. This is reflected in trading volumes of the product. It is also
evident that MIBOR swaps dominate the market.
All scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) excluding Regional Rural Banks, primary dealers (PDs)
and all-India financial institutions have been allowed to use IRS and FRA for their own balance
sheet management as also for the purpose of market making. The non-financial corporations have
been allowed to use IRS and FRA to hedge their balance sheet exposures, with a caveat that at
least one of the parties in any IRS/FRA transaction should be a RBI regulated entity.
Establishing Central counterparties (CCP) and Trade Repositories (TR) were two of the important
commitments made at the above Summit.
On the other hand, the objective of TRs is simply to maintain an authoritative electronic database
of all open OTC derivative transactions. It collects data derived from centrally or bilaterally
clearable transactions as inputted/verified by both parties to a trade. An important attribute of a
TR is its ability to interconnect with multiple market participants in support of risk reduction,
operational efficiency and cost saving benefits to individual participants and to the market as a
whole. The typical drawback of the OTC market is that the information concerning any contract
is usually available only to the contracting parties. While expanding the scope of availability of
information, it became pertinent to distinguish between information available to regulators, to
market participants and to public at large. Post trade processing services is another important
function of TR.
The reporting arrangement in interest rate derivatives in India follows a two-tier system. Since at
least one party to an OTC interest rate derivatives transaction is a RBI regulated entity, there has
been an elaborate prudential reporting requirement in so far as the risk implication of the derivative
positions for the entity is concerned.
From 1 April 1999, banks in India were expected to implement an effective ALM system, the
guidelines for which were contained in RBI circular dated 10 February 1999. The salient features
of this system are as follows:
1. Banks were expected to form an ALCO headed by the bank’s chief executive.
2. The ALM process rested on three pillars – ALM information system, ALM organization
and the ALM process.
3. The ALM information system emphasized the need for accurate and timely information to
asses risks of individual banks.
4. The prerequisite for an effective ALM organization is strong commitment from the bank’s
senior and top management. The ALCO of the bank would be responsible for ensuring
proper asset liability management as set by the bank’s Board of Directors.
5. Through the scope of the ALM process would encompass management of liquidity risk,
market risk, trading risk, funding and capital planning and profit planning, the RBI
guidelines primarily address liquidity and interest rate risks.
The global financial crisis of 2007 has highlighted, like never before, the role of prudent
management as the cornerstone of financial stability. On November 7, 2012, RBI released
guidelines for liquidity risk management, based on the documents Principles for Sound Liquidity
Risk Management and Supervision as well as Basel III: International Framework for Liquidity
Risk Measurement, Standards and Monitoring published by the Basel Committee on Banking
Supervision (BCBS) in September 2008 and December 2010 respectively.
Banks had to implement the guidelines immediately. However, these guidelines have been further
refined based on the January 2013 document of the Basel Committee titled ‘Basel III: The Liquidity
Coverage Ratio and Liquidity Risk Monitoring Tools’.
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