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With reference to cross currency swaps, what does it mean to receive the basis?

"Demand from Japanese institutions to receive basis (USD funding) increased due to emergency dollar demand due to the financial crisis"

I understand basis is negative for most currencies vs. USD. So dollar lender in the swap pays less interest to its counterparty(as the basis is negative). So if I borrow USD, am I receiving or paying the basis?

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    $\begingroup$ for cross currency basis swaps where the basis is usually on the non-usd leg then if you receive the basis you are lending foreign ccy receiving USD (and therefore receiving floating interest plus the basis in the foreign currency). $\endgroup$
    – Attack68
    Commented Mar 5, 2021 at 18:03

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From a sellside primer on CCBS: "The basis is quoted on the non-USD leg. For instance, if a 10y JPYUSD x-ccy basis swap is quoted -65bp, it means the borrower of JPY funds will pay JPY Libor -65bp every three months in exchange for receiving USD Libor flat from its USD loan. Inversely, the borrower of USD funds will pay USD Libor flat in exchange for receiving JPY Libor -65bp from its JPY loan. A deeply negative basis (-65bp in the above example) therefore suggests an exacerbated demand for US dollars, as one party is willing to receive much less interest rates on its non-USD loan"

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