FpML 4.1 Equity Derivative Swaps Product Architecture amends the product coverage introduced in FpML to support full conformance with ISDA 2002 Equity Derivative Defintions, intial and final stubs, and introduce Equity Swap Transaction Supplement.
This document provides an in-depth review of the technical architecture of the FpML 4.1 Equity Swap subschema. The scope as well as the current limitations of this schema, which will be addressed through a next release, are described in the first section of this document.
As shown in the section 8.1 Overall Architecture, FpML 4.1 provides for both "short form" transaction supplement and "long form" Equity Swap Representations.
Equity Swaps have 1-to-many Legs, all of which must be derived from the AssetSwapLeg type. Instances of Legs are equityLeg, interestLeg, and varianceLeg. Other Leg types may be derived from AssetSwapLeg at will, to allow for private extensions to support whatever type of Generic Asset Swap is desired.
The scope of this FpML representation for equity swaps is to capture the following types of swaps that have equity-related underlyers:
Extraordinary Events terms have been incorporated, to take into consideration the release of the 2002 ISDA Definitions for Equity Derivatives.
Trigger swaps, in which equity risk morphs into a fixed income risk once a certain market level is reached, may be supported in a subsequent release.
The FpML representation of the equity swap relies on five key structures that are presented in the figure 1 below:
Figure 1: The equitySwap main components.
Swaps may have 1-to-many Legs, the principal components of the equity swap schema are as follows:
equitySwapTransactionSupplement implements Equity Swap Transaction Supplements by providing a short form representation for use in trades governed by a Master Confirmation Agreement. Due to the wide scope of the Equity Swap Transaction Supplement, it has not been possible to make the equitySwapTransactionSupplement component as compact as equityOptionTransactionSupplement
The various sections below detail each of these five structures of the equity leg of the swap.
The figure 2 presents the structure of the equity leg of the swap, which has 10 categories of components:
Figure 2: The structure of the equity leg.
These 10 categories of components are described through the next few pages. They are the following:
The identification of the payer and receiver party of the equity leg is done similarly to the other types of swaps, through the payerPartyReference and the receiverPartyReference data elements.
The effective date and the termination date are similarly defined for both the interest and equity leg of the trade. Each of these dates can be specified either in reference to a date defined somewhere else in the document (using the relativeDate subcomponent), or as a specific date (using the adjustableDate subcomponent).
The figure 3 presents the effective date as an example of how these two components are structured:
Figure 3: The effectiveDate.
The example 1 below presents how these schema structures are used for defining the effective date of the equity swap as a function of the trade date (the elapse time between these being the settlement cycle of the underlying security assets) and the termination date as a function of the last payment of the swap. This corresponds indeed to the most frequent practice for confirming equity swaps.
Example 1 - Effective date as a function of the trade date and effective date as a function of the last payment date:
<effectiveDate id="EffectiveDate"> <relativeDate> <periodMultiplier>3</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <dayType>ExchangeBusiness</dayType> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> <dateRelativeTo href="TradeDate"/> </relativeDate> </effectiveDate> <terminationDate id="TerminationDate"> <relativeDate> <periodMultiplier>0</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> <dateRelativeTo href="FinalEquityPaymentDate"/> </relativeDate> </terminationDate>
The underlyer component provides a detailed description of the characteristic of the underlying asset(s). Seven types of asset classes have been included as part of this release, of which six are actually used by the equity swap. These six underlying types are the convertible bond, the equity, the exchange-traded fund, the future contract, the index and the mutual fund. The seventh one is the bond, that is used by the schema for credit derivatives and will be later used by the schema for trigger swaps once it will be released. Each of these asset types has been defined by extending a component named underlyingAsset that contains some key attributes that are common across most of the underlyers: the identifier, the descriptive name, the currency of denomination, the stock exchange on which the underlyer is listed and the clearance system. With the exception of the identifier element, all these attributes are optional.
Thereafter is the description of these six types of underlyers that are used by the schema for equity swaps. These diagrams also present the respective schemes that have been associated with these components. Not surprisingly, the exchangeId is used quite often.
The equity:
Figure 4: The equity underlyer extends the underlyingAsset component by adding two (optional) elements: the related exchange and the options exchange.
The index:
Figure 5: The index underlyer extends the underlyingAsset component by adding two (optional) elements: the related exchange and the identifier of the reference future contract that may have been referenced as part of the swap contract.
The mutual fund:
Figure 6: The mutual fund underlyer extends the underlyingAsset component by adding two (optional) elements: the indicator of whether the fund is open or closed and the name of the fund manager.
The exchange-traded fund:
Figure 7: The exchange-traded fund underlyer extends the underlyingAsset component by adding three (optional) elements: the related exchange, the options exchange and the name of the fund manager.
The future contract:
Figure 8: The future contract underlyer extends the underlyingAsset component by adding four (optional) elements: the related exchange, the options exchange, the contract multiplier and the specific reference of the future contract that is used as part of the swap.
The convertible bond:
Figure 9: The convertible bond underlyer extends the underlyingAsset component through six elements that characterize the instrument (the related exchange, the issuer name, the coupon rate, the maturity date, the par value and the face amount); in addition, the underlyingEquity component describes the equity underlyer in which the convertible bond can be turned into.
These various types of underlyers can be combined through two different structures, depending upon whether the swap has only one underlyer or has multiple underlying assets: the singleUnderlyer structure or the basket structure. The figure 10 below provides a high-level view of these two alternative structures, which are detailed in the following paragraphs.
Figure 10: Overview of the two alternative types of underlying structured: the singleUnderlyer and the basket.
In the case of a single underlyer, the singleUnderlyer component specifies the number of open units, the description of the underlyer (through the underlyingAsset substitution group) and the dividend payout ratio (which is defined through the underlyer component rather than the return component for reasons that are related to the basket, and that are explained below). It should be noted that the seven members of the underlyingAsset substitution group (bond, convertibleBond, equity, exchangeTradedFund, future, index, mutualFund) do not appear in this diagram: only the basis elements are represented.
Figure 11: The single underlyer.
The basket component is to be applied in the case where there are several underlyers, which are then specifically described through the basketConstituents component. This basket component is structured as follows: an identification of the number of basket units (typically, one) and a description of each of the basket constituents (through a one-to-many relationship).
Figure 12: The basket.
The structure that describes the basket is quite more complex than the one that specifies the single underlyer. Besides defining the number of basket units (typically, one), the structure specifies each of the basket constituents through an asset description, a constituent weight, a dividend payout ratio, a price and a notional description. The underlyingAsset component having been already described, the points below focus on the four latter components:
As an illustration of this structure of the basket component and an introduction to the upcoming developments that are devoted to the valuation, the example below presents the case of a basket swap which underlyers components are listed in various currencies.
Example 2 - Basket swap with underlyers listed in different currencies:
<underlyer> <basket> <openUnits>1</openUnits> <basketConstituent> <equity> <instrumentId instrumentIdScheme="RIC">TIM.MI</instrumentId> <description>Telecom Italia Mobile spa</description> <currency>EUR</currency> <exchangeId exchangeIdScheme="http://www.fpml.org/schemes/4.0/exchangeId">Milan Stock Exchange</exchangeId> </equity> <constituentWeight> <openUnits>783000</openUnits> </constituentWeight> <dividendPayout> <dividendPayoutRatio>85</dividendPayoutRatio> </dividendPayout> <underlyerPrice> <grossPrice> <currency>EUR</currency> <amount>4.14</amount> <priceExpression>AbsoluteTerms</priceExpression> </grossPrice> <netPrice> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>4.182</amount> <priceExpression>AbsoluteTerms</priceExpression> </netPrice> </underlyerPrice> <underlyerNotional> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>3274506</amount> </underlyerNotional> </basketConstituent> <basketConstituent> <equity> <instrumentId instrumentIdScheme="RIC">VOD.L</instrumentId> <description>Vodafone Group</description> <currency>GBP</currency> <exchangeId exchangeIdScheme="http://www.fpml.org/schemes/4.0/exchangeId">London Stock Exchange</exchangeId> </equity> <constituentWeight> <openUnits>24860</openUnits> </constituentWeight> <dividendPayout> <dividendPayoutRatio>85</dividendPayoutRatio> </dividendPayout> <underlyerPrice> <grossPrice> <currency>GBP</currency> <amount>110.00</amount> <priceExpression>AbsoluteTerms</priceExpression> </grossPrice> <netPrice> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>165.00</amount> <priceExpression>AbsoluteTerms</priceExpression> </netPrice> </underlyerPrice> <underlyerNotional> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>4101900</amount> </underlyerNotional> </basketConstituent> </basket> </underlyer>
Equity Derivatives and Equity Swaps both now use a common equityValuation component.
Figure 13: The EquityValuation type, that specifies the valuation terms of the equity leg of the swap.
The following developments present in more details the four main structures that are part of this EquitySwapValuation type: the initialPrice, the valuationPriceInterim, the valuationPriceFinal and the equityPaymentDates. Even if these components can appear quite complex at first glance, the objective here is to outline how they have been based upon a limited set of 'building blocks' that are systematically reused.
The purpose of the initialPrice component is to specify the initial price for the equity underlyer of the trade. In most of the cases, this price will be known. There can however be certain cases, such as a forward trade, where the actual price is not known on trade date and where the trade confirmation will rather specify the terms according to which this initial price will be determined at a later point.
The diagrams 14 and 15 below present the two sets of structures that are used for specifying these various cases: one (mandatory) structure that specifies the price and one (optional) structure that specifies the dates.
Figure 14: The initialPrice component of the valuation, with a specific focus on the part of the structure that specifies the price.
Three possible ways for defining the price of the underlyer are available: as an actual price and currency, in reference to an amount defined somewhere else in the document using the amountRelativeTo element, or by specifying a specific determination method using the determinationMethod component. Commissions can be associated with each of these three alternative definitions. For addressing the requirements related to composite FX swaps, the possibility is also provided, through the fxConversion component, to explicitly define the FX rate that has been used to convert the price from its listing currency to the reference currency of the swap.
Considering that in the vast majority of the cases the initial price is defined as an actual price and currency, the examples below will focus on detailing the various options available for specifying such actual price. The other possibilities offered through the Price type will be further detailed through the interim and final price components.
Example 3 - Specification of an initial price as an actual price that does not include commissions and FX terms:
<initialPrice> <netPrice> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>37.44</amount> <priceExpression>AbsoluteTerms</priceExpression> </netPrice> </initialPrice>
Example 4 - Specification of an initial price as an actual price that also includes commissions and FX terms:
<initialPrice> <commission> <commissionDenomination>BPS</commissionDenomination> <commissionAmount>5</commissionAmount> </commission> <grossPrice> <currency>CAD</currency> <amount>113228777</amount> <priceExpression>AbsoluteTerms</priceExpression> </grossPrice> <netPrice> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>84089141</amount> <priceExpression>AbsoluteTerms</priceExpression> </netPrice> <fxConversion> <fxRate> <quotedCurrencyPair> <currency1>CAD</currency1> <currency2>USD</currency2> <quoteBasis>Currency2PerCurrency1</quoteBasis> </quotedCurrencyPair> <rate>1.34665</rate> </fxRate> </fxConversion> </initialPrice>
Example 5 - Specification of an initial price as a percentage of the notional, without commissions nor FX terms:
<initialPrice> <netPrice> <amount>94.80278</amount> <priceExpression>PercentageOfNotional</priceExpression> </netPrice> </initialPrice>
Figure 15: The initialPrice component of the valuation, with a specific focus on the part of the structure that specifies the date and time of the initial valuation.
This structure that specifies the date and time of the valuation will typically not be used as part of the definition of the initial price. This is because in most cases the initialPrice component specifies the price of the underlyer that is used as the initial reference point for the swap, and there is no need to refer to any specific date or time. Considering that this 'building block is defined and used in a quite similar same way for the interim and final price, it will be detailed through these latter.
The purpose of the valuationPriceInterim component is to specify the interim price(s) for the equity underlyer of the trade. This is an optional component, as it does not apply in the case of a bullet swap, where there is no reset date. Its other specificity vis-a-vis the initial and final valuation components it that this components can hold an array of valuation dates, as opposed to only one valuation date.
Similarly to the initialPrice component, the diagrams 16 and 17 below present the two sets of structures that are part of the valuationPriceInterim component: one structure that specifies the price and one structure that specifies the valuation dates. Both structures are mandatory.
Figure 16: The valuationPriceInterim component of the valuation, with a specific focus on the part of the structure that specifies the price.
Figure 17: The valuationPriceInterim component of the valuation, with a specific focus on the part of the structure that specifies the dates.
The example 6 below is very illustrative of the typical use of the valuationPriceInterim structure for representing the interim valuation prices of an equity swap:
Example 6 - Typical example of how the valuationPriceInterim component is used to specify the the interim valuation:
<valuationPriceInterim> <determinationMethod>PriceAtValuationTime</determinationMethod> <valuationTimeType>Close</valuationTimeType> <equityValuationDates id="InterimValuationDate"> <adjustableDates> <unadjustedDate>2001-10-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2001-11-13</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2001-12-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-01-14</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-02-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-03-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-04-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-05-13</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-06-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-07-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-08-12</unadjustedDate> <dateAdjustments> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> </dateAdjustments> </adjustableDates> </equityValuationDates> </valuationPriceInterim>
The schema also provides the ability to address some more unusual situations. One of these relates to the case where the valuation dates are defined as a function of the equity payment dates. In such case, a specific consideration needs to be given to the various types of holidays, i.e. banking holidays versus exchange holidays. The relativeDateSequence component does provide such ability to define a date as a function of another date by applying a defined sequence of offsets, as opposed to only one offset as in the case of the relativeDate component. This case is illustrated in the example 7 below.
Example 7 - The interim valuation dates are defined in relation to the payment dates:
<equityValuationDates id="InterimValuationDates"> <relativeDateSequence> <dateRelativeTo href="InterimEquityPaymentDate"/> <!--The first offset is 2 exchange business days prior to the payment date.--> <dateOffset> <periodMultiplier>-2</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <dayType>CurrencyBusiness</dayType> <businessDayConvention>FOLLOWING</businessDayConvention> <sequence>1</sequence> </dateOffset> <!--The second offset is 1 banking business day prior to the payment date.--> <dateOffset> <periodMultiplier>-1</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <dayType>ExchangeBusiness</dayType> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> <sequence>2</sequence> </dateOffset> <businessCenters id="PrimaryBusinessCenter"> <businessCenter>USNY</businessCenter> </businessCenters> </relativeDateSequence> </equityValuationDates>
The example 8 below provides another example of an unusual definition of the interim valuation date. Here, the valuation dates are defined through a rule-based schedule, which corresponds to the market practice typically in use for fixed income swaps. This practice is however used only rarely in the case of equity derivatives.
Example 8 - The interim valuation dates are defined through a rule-based schedule:
<valuationPriceInterim> <determinationMethod>Valuation time</determinationMethod> <valuationTimeType>Close</valuationTimeType> <equityValuationDates id="InterimValuationDates"> <periodicDates> <calculationStartDate> <adjustableDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-04-10</unadjustedDate> <dateAdjustments> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> </dateAdjustments> </adjustableDate> </calculationStartDate> <calculationPeriodFrequency> <periodMultiplier>1</periodMultiplier> <period>M</period> <rollConvention>10</rollConvention> </calculationPeriodFrequency> <calculationPeriodDatesAdjustments> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> </calculationPeriodDatesAdjustments> </periodicDates> </equityValuationDates> </valuationPriceInterim> <valuationPriceFinal> <determinationMethod>HedgeUnwind</determinationMethod> <equityValuationDate id="FinalValuationDate"> <adjustableDate> <unadjustedDate>2003-03-12</unadjustedDate> <dateAdjustments> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> </dateAdjustments> </adjustableDate> </equityValuationDate> </valuationPriceFinal>
The purpose of the valuationPriceFinal component is to specify the final price for the equity underlyer of the trade.
In a similar way than what has been previously detailed for the components that specify the initial and the intermediate valuations, the diagrams 18 and 19 below respectively detail the structure that specifies the final price and the structure that specifies the date on which this valuation will take place. Both structures are mandatory.
Figure 18: The valuationPriceFinal component of the valuation, with a specific focus on the part of the structure that specifies the price.
Figure 19: The valuationPriceFinal component of the valuation, with a specific focus on the part of the structure that specifies the final valuation date.
It can be noted at this point that the only difference between this valuationPriceFinal component and the valuationPriceInterim component is that only one final valuation date can be specified, while the possibility is provided to define several interim valuation dates. The equityValuationDates component used for specifying the interim valuation dates has then been substituted with the equityValuationDate component, which allows only one date.
The example 8 below presents the most common use of this structure, a specific final valuation date being defined while the final price is specified through the use of the determinationMethod element. Of course, if the interim valuation dates would be defined in reference to the payment dates (as illustrated in the example 7) or through a rule-based schedule (example 8), such method would also be applied for defining the final valuation date.
Example 9 - The most common definition of the final valuation:
<valuationPriceFinal> <commission> <commissionDenomination>BPS</commissionDenomination> <commissionAmount>60</commissionAmount> </commission> <determinationMethod>HedgeUnwind</determinationMethod> <equityValuationDate id="FinalValuationDate"> <adjustableDate> <unadjustedDate>2004-02-03</unadjustedDate> <dateAdjustments> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> </dateAdjustments> </adjustableDate> </equityValuationDate> </valuationPriceFinal>
The last structure that participates in the definition of the equity swap valuation is the schedule of equity payment dates. These dates are specified through the equityPaymentDates component. The structure of this component is threefold:
Figure 20: The equityPaymenDate component, that specifies the schedule of equity payment dates.
The structure of the equityPaymentDatesInterim and the equityPaymentDateFinal is very similar. The only difference is that several dates can be specified in the first case, and only one date in the latter.
As a result, both the interim and the final payment dates can be defined either as a schedule of dates or in reference to a date defined somewhere else in the document. This latter approach is used most often, with the equity payment dates being specified as one settlement cycle after the valuation date to which they relate. This is illustrated through this final example relating to the valuation component, which provides a complete view of how the valuation dates are defined as an actual schedule of dates to which the payment dates refer.
Example 10 - Equity swap which payment dates are defined in relation to the schedule of valuation dates:
<valuation> <initialPrice> <netPrice> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>37.44</amount> <priceExpression>AbsoluteTerms</priceExpression> </netPrice> </initialPrice> <equityNotionalReset>true</equityNotionalReset> <valuationPriceInterim> <determinationMethod>PriceAtValuationTime</determinationMethod> <valuationTimeType>Close</valuationTimeType> <equityValuationDates id="InterimValuationDate"> <adjustableDates> <unadjustedDate>2001-10-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2001-11-13</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2001-12-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-01-14</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-02-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-03-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-04-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-05-13</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-06-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-07-12</unadjustedDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-08-12</unadjustedDate> <dateAdjustments> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> </dateAdjustments> </adjustableDates> </equityValuationDates> </valuationPriceInterim> <valuationPriceFinal> <determinationMethod>HedgeUnwind</determinationMethod> <equityValuationDate id="FinalValuationDate"> <adjustableDate> <unadjustedDate>2002-09-24</unadjustedDate> <dateAdjustments> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> </dateAdjustments> </adjustableDate> </equityValuationDate> </valuationPriceFinal> <equityPaymentDates id="EquityPaymentDate"> <equityPaymentDatesInterim id="InterimEquityPaymentDate"> <relativeDates> <periodMultiplier>3</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <dayType>CurrencyBusiness</dayType> <businessDayConvention>FOLLOWING</businessDayConvention> <businessCenters id="PrimaryBusinessCenter"> <businessCenter>USNY</businessCenter> </businessCenters> <dateRelativeTo href="InterimValuationDate"/> </relativeDates> </equityPaymentDatesInterim> <equityPaymentDateFinal id="FinalEquityPaymentDate"> <relativeDate> <periodMultiplier>3</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <dayType>CurrencyBusiness</dayType> <businessDayConvention>FOLLOWING</businessDayConvention> <businessCentersReference href="PrimaryBusinessCenter"/> <dateRelativeTo href="FinalValuationDate"/> </relativeDate> </equityPaymentDateFinal> </equityPaymentDates> </valuation>
The notional component specifies the notional of each of the legs of the swap (it is indeed also present in the interest leg of the trade). Similarly to the price of the underlyer, three possible ways of defining this notional are available:
Figure 21: The notional component.
The three examples below illustrate each of these cases mentioned before:
Example 11 - The explicit notional amount:
<notional id="EquityNotionalAmount"> <notionalAmount> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>28469376</amount> </notionalAmount> </notional>
Example 12 - The reference to a notional defined somewhere else in the document:
<notional> <amountRelativeTo href="EquityNotionalAmount"/> </notional>
Example 13 - The use of the determinationMethod for specifying the notional amount:
<notional id="EquityNotionalAmount"> <determinationMethod>Number of Shares * Initial Price</determinationMethod> </notional>
The main purpose of the equityAmount component is to specify the method that determines the equity amount to be paid/received on each of the equity payment dates. Its role however goes quite beyond this, as it also specifies:
Figure 22: The equityAmount component.
This equityAmount component is based on the LegAmount type that is also used for defining the interestAmount. It extends this type by adding a boolean cashSettlement element that specifies whether the swap will cash or physically settle.
The paymentCurrency is the first component of this structure. It specifies the payment currency of the equity leg of the swap through three possible methods:
The core of the equityAmount component is its second component, which specifies the payoff of the equity leg. This can done in three possible ways:
The optional calculationDates component is also aimed at these more complex equity swaps. It provides the possibility to define calculation dates (such as observation points in the case of an equity payoff that is a function of some specific market levels). These calculation dates can be specified similarly to the valuation dates:
Figure 23: The calculationDates component, that provides the opportunity to define calculation dates for more exotic types of equity swaps.
Example 14 - The use of the equityAmount component for a vanilla equity swap:
<equityAmount> <paymentCurrency id="EquityPaymentCurrency"> <currency>USD</currency> </paymentCurrency> <referenceAmount>ISDA Standard</referenceAmount> <cashSettlement>true</cashSettlement> </equityAmount>
The return component encapsulates the information that defines the dividend to be paid to the receiver of the equity amounts, with the exception of the dividend payout ratio, that is specified through the underlyer component. (As explained earlier, this is because a specific payout ratio can be associated with each underlyer component in the case of basket swaps; such situation can typically be related to different tax regimes across countries when those various underlyers originate from different market places.)
Figure 24: The return component.
This return component has two sets of element: the returnType element, that specifies (through an enumeration) whether the contract is a total return swap, a price return swap or a dividend return swap, and the dividendConditions component, which describes the various conditions applicable to the dividend, including whether and how interests will be accrued if they are paid after the dividend pay date. This second component is optional, as it does not apply in the case of a price return swap. Its dividend terms are the following:
The notionalAdjustments component specifies whether the adjustment to the equity notional of the swap will obey to certain specific terms. These terms can be, according to the current industry practice, threefold: standard, execution and portfolio rebalancing. An execution-style swap is a trade where the quantity of underlyers is expected to vary quite often; in order to facilitate these later 'executions', the parties agree in advance on contractual terms that will facilitate these expected adjustments to the contract. A portfolio-rebalancing swap is a trade where the basket components will be often adjusted not only in terms of quantities but also in terms of types of underlyers; similarly to the previous case, some specific language will typically accommodate such adjustments.
These legal terms are however not specified through the schema representation of the equity swap. There are two reasons for this. The first one is that they are not part of the ISDA Definitions for Equity Derivatives. The second reason is that this current version of the equity swap schema is focused on representing the economic description of the trade. These legal terms are then not part of it.
Equity Derivatives and Equity Swaps both now use a common FxFeature component
The fxFeature is an optional component that specifies the FX conversion terms that can be associated with the swap. This FX feature can either be Quanto or Composite FX. Both these components include a referenceCurrency element, which purpose is to explicitly state the reference currency of the swap.
Figure 25: The quanto component.
The quanto component includes an explicit reference to a rate, through the quantoRate element. One or several rates can be defined, in order to address the case where a basket swap is composed of several underlyers that are listed in different currencies.
The example below illustrates the application of this quanto component:
Example 15 - The quanto component:
<fxFeature> <quanto> <referenceCurrency id="ReferenceCurrency">USD</referenceCurrency> <fxRate> <quotedCurrencyPair> <currency1>USD</currency1> <currency2>EUR</currency2> <quoteBasis>Currency2PerCurrency1</quoteBasis> </quotedCurrencyPair> <rate>0.99140</rate> </fxRate> <fxRate> <quotedCurrencyPair> <currency1>USD</currency1> <currency2>HKD</currency2> <quoteBasis>Currency2PerCurrency1</quoteBasis> </quotedCurrencyPair> <rate>7.80</rate> </fxRate> </quanto> </fxFeature>
Figure 26: The compositeFx component.
The compositeFx component provides the framework for defining a currency rate at some point in the future. This can be done either by defining a generic method using the determinationMethod component (for example, when it is agreed that the exchange rate will be determined "in good faith by the Calculation Agent") or by specifying the information source and fixing time and date reference that will be used for defining this exchange rate, using the fxDetermination component.
The example below illustrates the application of this compositeFx component:
Example 16 - The compositeFx component:
<fxFeature> <compositeFx> <referenceCurrency id="ReferenceCurrency">USD</referenceCurrency> <determinationMethod>GoodFaith</determinationMethod> </compositeFx> </fxFeature>
The interest leg of the equity swap leverages for the most part the schema developed for the interest rate swaps.
However, instead of simply reusing the entire swapStream, the interest rate leg of the equity swap schema reuses certain of the components that are part of this swapStream.
This design approach is motivated by the differences in market practices that exist between the equity and fixed income products. The industry practice for the equity swaps consists in defining a schedule of actual dates for the equity valuation, while most of the other swap dates are defined in reference to this schedule. The practice in place in the interest rate area consists, on the other hand, in defining a rule-based schedule. As a result, the swapStream features are largely focused on defining such periodicity rules along with the appropriate calendar exceptions, and do not provide the possibility for defining a complete schedule of actual dates (if we except through the firstPeriodStartDate, the firstRegularPeriodStartDate and the lastRegularPeriodEndDate) and references to these.
Instead of leveraging the whole swapStream component, the interest leg of the equity swap leverages then components at a more granular level, such as the resetFrequency component, the interestCalculation component and the calculationPeriodDatesReference element.
As a result, the interest leg of the equity swap has six categories of components, which are presented in the figure 27 below and respectively specify the following features of the interest leg:
Figure 27: The interest leg of the equity swap.
The identification of the payer and receiver party of the equity leg is done similarly than for the equity leg of the swap, through the payerPartyReference and receiverPartyReference data elements.
The interestLegCalculationPeriodDates component defines the various dates associated with the interest leg of the swap:
The diagram below presents the key features of these different date structures. Three of these components are structured in the same way: the effectiveDate, the terminationDate and the interestRatePaymentDates. These components indeed all provide the possibility to define a date (or several dates, in the case of the interestRatePaymentDates component) as either an actual date or in reference to a date specified somewhere else in the document.
The interestRateResetDates component has been developed as a simplified version of the ResetDates type that is part of the interest rates derivatives schema. Three of the seven components that are part of this ResetDates type have indeed been reused:
Figure 28: The interestLegCalculationPeriodDates component.
The example below presents a typical example of how this schema is applied to the standard interest leg of an equity swap:
Example 17 - The calculation period dates of the interest leg of an equity swap:
<interestLegCalculationPeriodDates id="InterestLegPeriodDates"> <effectiveDate> <relativeDate> <periodMultiplier>3</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <dayType>ExchangeBusiness</dayType> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> <dateRelativeTo href="TradeDate"/> </relativeDate> </effectiveDate> <terminationDate> <relativeDate> <periodMultiplier>0</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> <dateRelativeTo href="FinalEquityPaymentDate"/> </relativeDate> </terminationDate> <interestLegResetDates> <calculationPeriodDatesReference href="InterestLegPeriodDates"/> <resetRelativeTo>CalculationPeriodStartDate</resetRelativeTo> </interestLegResetDates> <interestLegPaymentDates> <relativeDates> <periodMultiplier>0</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> <dateRelativeTo href="EquityPaymentDate"/> </relativeDates> </interestLegPaymentDates> </interestLegCalculationPeriodDates>
The notional amount is defined through the same structure than for the equity leg of the swap: the notional component. As mentioned earlier, and illustrated through the example 12, this component is most often used for referencing the notional amount that is defined as part of the equity leg.
The interest amount is defined in the same way than the equity amount: using the LegAmount complex type. Used through the interest leg, it specifies the following elements:
Example 18 - The interest amount of an equity swap:
<interestAmount> <paymentCurrency href="ReferenceCurrency"/> <referenceAmount>Standard ISDA</referenceAmount> </interestAmount>
The interestCalculation component specifies the interest rate reference of the swap (by referring either to a fixed interest rate or to a floating reference rate) and the day count fraction to be applied. As indicated in the introduction to the interest leg section, this structure has been developed by leveraging the components defined for the interest rate swap schema.
Figure 29: The interestCalculation component.
The example below presents a typical example of how this interestCalculation component can be applied for specifying the floating rate of an equity swap:
Example 19 - Specifying the floating rate of an equity swap:
<interestCalculation> <floatingRateCalculation> <floatingRateIndex>USD-LIBOR-BBA</floatingRateIndex> <indexTenor> <periodMultiplier>3</periodMultiplier> <period>M</period> </indexTenor> <spreadSchedule> <initialValue>0.0050</initialValue> </spreadSchedule> </floatingRateCalculation> <dayCountFraction>ACT/360</dayCountFraction> </interestCalculation>
The variance leg supports equity variance swaps as defined in ISDA Equity Variance Swap Transaction Supplements. Due to the need to maintain backwards compatibility in this release it has not been possible to change the existing equity leg in order to support both a "short form" representation, and the concept of return based on variance. Due to the diversity of choices supported by the Equity Swap Transacation Supplement a "short form" would in any case not be much more compact than "long form".
The representation of the stub periods for the equity swaps schema makes use of the Stub type that was initially developed for the interest rates schema.
The initialStub and the finalStub components respectively describe the initial and final stubs. For each of those, the component specifies the rate (or stub amount), the stub start date and the stub end date. The payment dates that relate to the stub period(s) are specified along with the payment dates of the main period, in the interestLegCalculationPeriodDates component.
Some types of equity swaps do not have an interest leg. Their economic structure relies instead in the exchange of the principal of the swap between the parties. These are the fully funded and zero-strike swaps. The purpose of the PrincipalExchangeFeatures component is to specify this feature that is associated with those swaps. (It should however be noted that the schema also accommodates some more exotic cases that would combine an interest leg which notional would be smaller than the notional of the equity leg, and that would also have a principal exchange.)
Figure 30: The exchange of principal amounts.
This component extends the design developed for the interest rate swaps (through the principalExchanges component) by adding the PrincipalExchangeDescriptions component, which has the following features:
Example 20 - Initial principal exchange:
<principalExchangeFeatures> <principalExchanges> <initialExchange>true</initialExchange> <finalExchange>false</finalExchange> <intermediateExchange>false</intermediateExchange> </principalExchanges> <principalExchangeDescriptions> <payerPartyReference href="PartyB"/> <receiverPartyReference href="PartyA"/> <principalExchangeAmount> <principalAmount> <currency>USD</currency> <amount>55911.60</amount> </principalAmount> </principalExchangeAmount> <principalExchangeDate> <relativeDate> <periodMultiplier>0</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> <dateRelativeTo href="EffectiveDate"/> </relativeDate> </principalExchangeDate> </principalExchangeDescriptions> </principalExchangeFeatures>
Similarly to the principal exchange, the EquitySwapAdditionalPayment complex type extends the design developed for the interest rate swaps by providing the ability to define dates in relation to other dates, as well as to specify the calculation logic that supports certain types of fees.
Figure 31: The additionalPayment component.
This additionalPayment structure leverages some of the features that are also used through other components:
Example 21 - Upfront fee:
<additionalPayment> <payerPartyReference href="PartyA"/> <receiverPartyReference href="PartyB"/> <additionalPaymentAmount> <formula> <formulaDescription>18388000 * Reference Price * [6.5% (the upfront Fee) + 0.63% (taxes)]</formulaDescription> <math> <mn>18388000 </mn> <mo>*</mo> <mi>ReferencePrice</mi> <mo>*</mo> <mo>(</mo> <mn>6.5</mn> <mo>%</mo> <mo>+</mo> <mn>0.63</mn> <mo>%</mo> <mo>)</mo> </math> <formulaComponent name="ReferencePrice"> <componentDescription>Volume-weighted average price per share of underlying security on Trade Date</componentDescription> </formulaComponent> </formula> </additionalPaymentAmount> <additionalPaymentDate> <relativeDate> <periodMultiplier>0</periodMultiplier> <period>D</period> <businessDayConvention>NotApplicable</businessDayConvention> <dateRelativeTo href="EffectiveDate"/> </relativeDate> </additionalPaymentDate> <paymentType>Upfront fee</paymentType> </additionalPayment>
The purpose of the equitySwapEarlyTermination component is to specify the date from which each of the parties to the trade may have the right to terminate it early. The figure 30 below presents the structure of this component:
Figure 32: The earlyTermination component.
Similarly to the other date-related components that are part of the equity swap, the date can be specified using either the adjustableDate component or the relativeDate component. Considering that the standard market practice is to provide the ability for both the parties to the trade to early terminate it starting on Trade Date, the relativeDate element should be used most often. This is illustrated in the example below.
Example 22 - Each of the parties have the right to early terminate the trade starting on Trade Date:
<earlyTermination> <partyReference href="PartyA"/> <startingDate> <dateRelativeTo href="TradeDate"/> </startingDate> </earlyTermination> <earlyTermination> <partyReference href="PartyB"/> <startingDate> <dateRelativeTo href="TradeDate"/> </startingDate> </earlyTermination>
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