Money Market Rates Hit New Highs Amid Inflation Concerns

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RUONIA (Russian Overnight Index Average), the benchmark for coupon payments on most exchange-traded floating-rate bonds, stabilized on Thursday at 15.77%.

RUONIA is an indicative rate for overnight ruble-denominated interbank lending. It is calculated as a weighted average of actual overnight lending transactions between the top 35 Russian banks.

Meanwhile, the RUSFAR ON RUB (overnight in rubles) stood at 15.7%, while RUSFAR ON CNY (overnight in yuan) was up 0.98%.

It is important to note that RUONIA (Ruble Overnight Index Average) is an unsecured overnight lending rate in rubles, calculated by the Bank of Russia based on transactions among the top 35 banks. In contrast, RUSFAR (Russian Secured Funding Average Rate) is a secured funding rate (repurchase agreements with a central counterparty), calculated by the Moscow Exchange for different maturities (ON, 1M, 3M, etc.).

RUSFAR serves as a key benchmark:

- It reflects interest rates in the Russian money market,

- It is based on the average values of repo transactions with the central counterparty,

- It is included in the list of financial indicators approved by the Bank of Russia.

The main difference is that RUONIA is an unsecured rate, while RUSFAR is a secured rate. Both are key indicators of the cost of money in the market and are used for floating rates in bonds.

This overview was presented by Alexey Grishchenko, Ph.D., Professor at the Department of Operational and Sectoral Management at the Higher School of Management of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.