The swaps market: How companies manage interest rate and other risks with OTC derivatives

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Let’s make a trade.

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Suppose a company has a pile of long-term, fixed-rate debt, and they would prefer that some of it be of shorter duration and tied to a short-term interest rate. Meanwhile, the bank next door earns fixed-rate payments from loans it’s made, and pays depositors on a floating-rate basis.

Wouldn’t it be great if the two entities could trade their cash flows? It would give both the company and the bank the ability to offset their risk by matching cash flows to their desired risk profiles.

That’s where the swaps market comes into play. A swap is an over-the-counter derivative contract that lets two parties exchange future payment streams for a set time period, typically in order to offset risk.

Common swaps (known in the derivatives world as “plain-vanilla” swaps) involve exchanging fixed-rate debt for floating-rate debt or trading payments denominated in different currencies. Another type of swap, the credit default swap (essentially a type of insurance contract—more on this below), was a key player in the 2008 financial crisis.

Although swaps are custom (“bespoke,” in swap dealer language) contracts, they fall into three main categories: interest rates, currencies, and credit default. There are also equity and commodity swaps, although these markets are much smaller. No matter the type of swap, each involves exchanging (i.e., “swapping”) one payment stream for another.

Want to learn more about this multi-trillion-dollar market (or at least enough to sound smart at parties)? Read on.

In a typical interest rate swap arrangement, two parties agree to exchange interest payments on a notional principal amount. One party may have a fixed interest rate obligation, while the other has a variable or floating interest rate obligation. By entering into an interest rate swap, the parties can effectively transform their liabilities from fixed to floating or vice versa, depending on their preferences and risk management strategies.

There are two main types of interest rate swaps:

Interest rate swaps are the most common form of swap. Data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) shows that $993 trillion of interest rate swaps cleared in 2022.

Currency swaps and foreign exchange (FX) swaps are over-the-counter (OTC) contracts that involve the exchange of two currencies, but they generally serve different purposes and follow different structures. Currency swaps (also called cross-currency swaps) typically involve the exchange of principal amounts in two currencies at the start and end of the contract, along with periodic interest payments in each currency. FX swaps, in contrast, involve an initial exchange and a reverse exchange at a future date (similar in structure to a repurchase agreement or “repo”), but don’t include interest payments in the interim. Both are used to manage foreign exchange risk and gain exposure to (or obtain funding in) a different currency.

There are five main types of currency swaps:

According to BIS data, notional turnover in FX swap markets reached $217 trillion in 2022.

When you buy car insurance, you swap the premium payment for the costs of an accident (if you have one). In other words, you’re paying to transfer the risk of an accident to an insurance company, who agrees to foot the bill if there’s a claim.

A credit default swap is essentially an insurance contract against default on a bond or other debt instrument. One party agrees to make periodic payments in exchange for repayment of all financial obligations (i.e., principal and interest) if the issuer defaults.

These became much less common after the 2008 financial crisis. But according to BIS, about $19 trillion in CDS traded in 2022.

The swap market operates over the counter (OTC). Most swaps are customized contracts negotiated directly between the parties involved; this approach offers more flexibility in terms and conditions than, say, futures markets, which involve standardized delivery terms.

Swaps are offered by commercial and investment banks (who must register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as “swap dealers”). A swap dealer may choose to take one side of the swap or simply bring together two clients with offsetting needs (like the company and the bank discussed above).

Swaps have several advantages that make them appealing to market participants. Among them:

Each side of the contract is known as a counterparty. The key risk in the swap market is that one side may not meet its end of the deal, known as counterparty risk.

Nowadays, most swaps are managed by clearinghouses (typically operated by exchange groups such as the London Stock Exchange, CME Group, and ICE). They require the posting of margin to ensure performance, and also act as the ultimate guarantor of the transaction’s terms.

The swap market plays a vital role in the global financial system, as it helps provide efficient risk management tools and enhances liquidity. Swaps allow companies and other market participants to match income with expenses and payables with receivables, hedge against potential risks, and access funding at favorable terms. Moreover, the swap market contributes to the smooth functioning of financial markets by redistributing risks and facilitating the allocation of capital across various sectors and regions.

There have been big exceptions, though. One feature of the 2008 financial crisis was the amount of credit default swaps in the market. When mortgages began defaulting, the investment banks that provided insurance through credit default swaps were forced to pay out far more money than they expected, which added to the stress on the financial system.

The swaps issue became systemic when a major investment bank, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy. At that point the opaque, bilateral (i.e., not cleared through a central counterparty) nature of swaps came to light, as the company was counterparty to tens of thousands of individual swap agreements. In 2010, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which included a full overhaul of the OTC derivatives market.

Swaps are important tools for managing financial risks by matching clients with offsetting needs and allowing them to trade payment streams. Because swaps are custom (or “bespoke”) contracts, they can be written on a wide range of financial instruments.

But because trillions of dollars of notional value changes hands each month, a robust system of financial and regulatory checks and balances is essential, particularly during periods of market stress.