Dollar swap option returns to India after RBI rule change for lenders

IndusInd Bank concluded a USD swaption, or swap option, deal after the Reserve Bank of India permitted lenders to offer such products, the company said on Friday.
 

IndusInd said it executed the deal with two of its large corporate clients but did not disclose their names.
 

"With the RBI allowing more products being offered to corporates for hedging their risks, corporates will now have more effective ways of hedging their commercial operations and balance sheet risks," said Siddharth Banerjee, IndusInd's head of global markets group, investment banking and financial institutions.
 

The central bank, effective Friday, expanded the range of products banks can offer to eligible corporates, which included swaptions, or an option to enter into an interest rate swap.
 

The RBI had halted most complex derivative structures more than a decade back after corporates suffered sizeable losses.

"Swaption is an exotic interest rate derivative. Such structures allow a hedger to better express their market view and hence are very useful," said Samir Lodha, managing director at QuantArt Market Solutions.
 

"Knowledge of the product and pricing is critical."