Borsa Istanbul has announced that a new asset class will soon be added to its VIOP platform. Overnight Repo Rate Futures contracts will begin trading on Borsa İstanbul Derivatives Market (VIOP) on October 21, 2015.
The new contracts, based on the compounded rate of value weighted average of daily overnight repo rate traded on Borsa İstanbul Interbank Repo-Reverse Repo Market, with a daily average volume of $13 billion, will be of two types: monthly and quarterly. Both types of contracts are cash settled in Turkish Lira with a central counterparty clearing (CCP) service provided by Takasbank.
Borsa İstanbul Executive Vice President Çetin Ali Dönmez noted that Overnight Repo Rate Futures will allow institutional investors to manage their short term interest rate risks, filling a significant gap in this field, and said, “Overnight Repo Rate Futures are, at the same time, instruments that can be used as benchmark in the floating leg of Turkish Lira denominated interest rate swaps. We offer significant cost advantages for market makers of Overnight Repo Rate Futures contracts which play an important role for the stability of the financial system. We are negotiating with potential market makers in order to ensure the availability of on-screen liquidity as soon as possible”.
Borsa İstanbul Head of Derivatives Market (VIOP) Muammer Çakır commented:
“FX derivatives at VIOP have become as liquid as index contracts in the last couple of years. By adding another Treasury product in our product portfolio, we are taking a determined step towards creating an efficient and liquid risk management platform for managing all kinds of risks. With this vision, we are pleased to launch Overnight Repo Rate Futures, through which, particularly banks, mutual funds and financial institutions can manage their short term interest rate risks with central counterparty clearing service”.
To view the official announcement from Borsa Istanbul, click here.