The basket of derivatives to hedge interest rate risks is set to expand for fixed income investors as a Reserve Bank of India panel has recommended the introduction of both over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded options.
“The financial entities, including banks, do not have any instruments to manage the embedded options on their balance sheets. For example, banks are faced with the risks of prepayment of floating-rate housing loans and premature withdrawal of fixed deposits. If not adequately managed, such asymmetric pay-offs can pose significant risk to the entities. Thus market participants in India, need a hedging instrument to manage interest rate option risk,” the panel said in its report released on Monday.
The panel has suggested that interest rate options with simple structures may be permitted for all domestic investors in both the OTC and exchange markets. It has suggested that the Fixed Income Money Markets and Derivatives Association in consultation with market participants may come out with a list of underlying instruments that may include the benchmark 10-year government bond, treasury bills, Mumbai Interbank Offered Rate or even derivatives such as overnight indexed swaps.
Interest rate options are derivatives through which bond investors can hedge the risk of interest rate movement on their underlying security or even benefit by punting on future interest rate movements.