ILS glossary

What is SOFR?

Secured Overnight Financing Rate — the benchmark interest rate used for floating-rate cat bond coupons, replacing LIBOR.

Lecture 7

SOFR

Secured Overnight Financing Rate — the benchmark interest rate used for floating-rate cat bond coupons, replacing LIBOR.

How it works in practice

A cat bond pays a quarterly coupon of SOFR plus 5%. Each quarter, the coupon resets based on the prevailing SOFR rate. When SOFR is 4.5%, the investor receives an annualised 9.5%. The SOFR component reflects the return earned on the money market collateral, while the 5% spread is the compensation for catastrophe risk.

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