This video serves as a primer for the Interest Rate derivatives market.
We begin by looking at the Interest rate market through the simple lens of loans and deposits. We then examine the motivation of a corporate treasurer to enter into an Interest Rate swap. Swaps help treasurers manage the risks arising from variable interest rates on loans.
We then show many other types of firms, asset managers, hedge funds and banks as well as corporations are also motivated to use interest rate swaps. This diversity of use, coupled with the diversity of firms makes for a very liquid market in interest rate derivatives.
We then dive into the details of the contractual definition of a swap. This has several parameters such as fixed and floating rate, currency, payment frequency, maturity, date roll and accrual codes. We see how we can use these parameters and derive a set of cashflows between swap participants.
As we shall see in future videos this cashflow representation helps us to price and risk-manage interest rate derivatives.
