ABN AMRO has launched MiniSwaps, a product allowing corporates, fund managers and institutions to trade and hedge interest rate risk. Regulatory or credit legislations has prevented some market participants from trading derivative contracts but the open-ended securities, says ABN AMRO, will open the market. MiniSwaps are priced at intrinsic value with no time value element and, importantly, trade like securities rather than derivatives with price linked to the prevailing level of the underlying interest rate.
Interest rate swaps were introduced to the markets in the 1980s. Since then, the market value of interest rate swaps has grown from a notional value of $680 billion at the end of 1987 to around $120 trillion in today's market.
Robert Douch, global head of distribution in ABN AMRO?s financial markets business, comments: ?We are already experiencing broad based interest from first time users as well as established swaps market participants, who are also attracted to the convenient and scalable access that MiniSwaps provide to the interest rate market.?