Swap Dealers Include Bank of America, N.A., Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and Societe Generale
Following last month’s launch of Bloomberg Total Return Swaps, known as BTRS, Bloomberg today announced the first executed standardised Total Return Swap transaction on the Bloomberg Barclays Indices.
Standardized BTRS provide exposure to the widely used Bloomberg Barclays fixed income indices including the US & Global Aggregates, US Corporate (IG) and US High Yield Indices as a tool for clients operating in the credit space who are subject to margin, risk and post-trade capital requirements.
“As financial institutions are forced to reduce the amount of risk and large bond positions they carry, a number of our clients have expressed strong interest in BTRS as an easy-to-transact means of alternative, synthetic exposure to the credit markets,” said Phil Cenatiempo, Head of Bloomberg Global Markets. “This exposure carries a lower risk of divergence from the underlying cash instruments at minimal capital expense for both the buy side and the sell side.”
“BTRS opens these market-leading fixed income benchmarks to a broader set of participants, including sell-side institutions that can use the instrument to hedge existing portfolios, better manage their risk allocation, or put new money to work” added Cenatiempo. “BTRS’ interoperability with Bloomberg’s fixed income valuation, risk and portfolio analytics tools creates a high level of efficiency in the workflow.”
U.K.-based banking and financial services company Barclays provided sell-side execution on the first BTRS transaction.
“BTRS represents a significant stride towards standardized swap agreements around benchmark indices as investors seek cost-efficient trading methods in specific credit markets with limited liquidity,” said Umang Bhatia, Head of Fixed Income Index Derivative Trading, TRS & Bond Forwards, Barclays. “As a leading market-maker in Bloomberg Barclays Index swaps, we look forward to providing access and liquidity in BTRS to customers.”
BTRS swap dealers currently include Bank of America, N.A., Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and Societe Generale. Single dealer pages are being created to provide clients with full market transparency. The Barclays page is already available on the Bloomberg Terminal at {GDCO 2592 <GO>}.
Standardized BTRS supplement a broader set of existing products that incorporate the Bloomberg Barclays Indices with full constituent data, available through the Bloomberg Terminal. Find more information about the Bloomberg Barclays Indices at bloombergindices.com or via {IDXO <GO>}.
For more information about Bloomberg Total Return Swaps (BTRS), please email btrs1@bloomberg.net.
