Singapore is blazing a trail for Libor replacement in Asia, as its central bank becomes the first government entity in the region to auction notes based on a new risk-free rate.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) auctioned $500 million of six-month floating-rate notes with a spread over compounded Singapore Overnight Rate Average, or SORA, on Tuesday. It received $2.1 billion of applications. The country is adopting SORA as it moves away from the SGD Swap offer rate, which uses the London interbank offered rate in computation.
Trillions of dollars are at stake, as everything from home mortgages to interest rate swaps are underpinned by two local rates that are due to be discontinued. The shift is part of a broader global push as policymakers around the world develop new benchmarks to replace Libor by the end of 2021, after European and U.S. banks were found to have manipulated it for their own gain.
Asia has lagged the rest of the world in preparing for the change, but Singapore could offer a template for how the transition can be managed.
“They are certainly ahead of the curve so far as issuing government-backed products referencing the alternative rate,” said Natalie Curtis, Singapore-based partner at Herbert Smith Freehills.
Some $3.5 trillion of derivative products were pegged to the existing swap offer rate, as were $37.5 billion of bonds, according to a panel in March. That rate is due to be discontinued after 2021.
In Singapore, a few debt securities have already been issued off SORA, the alternative benchmark, including ones from developer CapitaLand Ltd. and the country’s biggest lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd.
The MAS offering marks the start of what will be monthly issuance of such securities from the central bank.
Progress on establishing alternative reference rates across Asia has been patchy. In Hong Kong, the Treasury Markets Association has identified the Hong Kong Dollar Overnight Index Average, or Honia, as an alternative rate to the Hong Kong interbank offered rate. The first Honia-linked interest rate swap was centrally cleared in July.
Honia still lacks traction in Hong Kong, partly because banks can continue to reference Hibor for existing and future loan products beyond 2021, according to Francis Chan, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in a note this month.
