LAUNCH
OF INTEREST RATE FUTURES IN 10-YR GOVT BONDS OKAYED
Market regulator SEBI has allowed stock
exchanges to introduce cash settled interest rate futures (IRFs) on 10-year
government bonds, which has been a long pending demand of market participants.
"It has been decided to permit stock exchanges
to introduce cash settled IRFs on 10-year Government of India (GoI)
security," the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a
circular on Thursday.
The decision was taken after consulting Reserve Bank and feedback from market
participants and stock exchanges.
An interest rate future is a contract between a buyer and a seller agreeing to
the future delivery of any interest-bearing asset such as government bonds.
Banks, stock exchanges and other market participants have been requesting for
this product since a long time to deepen and broaden the derivatives market in
the country.
Investors purchase or sell IRFs to hedge risks arising from fluctuation in
interest rates, which depend on various factors including RBI policy, demand
for liquidity and flow of overseas funds.
"Two different designs (coupon bearing GoI security as underlying and
coupon bearing notional 10-year GoI security with settlement price based on
basket of securities as underlying) are permitted for cash settled futures on
10-year GoI security," it said.
The exchanges are allowed to launch contracts on either one or both of these
options.
This is being introduced on a pilot basis and the product features would be
reviewed based on the experience gained.
Before the launch of the product, the stock exchange is required to submit the
proposal to Sebi for approval giving the details of contract specifications,
risk management framework, the safeguards and the risk protection mechanisms
and the surveillance systems among others.
Trading would be done between 9 am and 5 pm on all working days from Monday to
Friday.
To begin with, Sebi said that serial monthly contracts with maximum maturity of
three months would be available.
No comments:
Post a Comment