What is ‘General Collateral Financing Trades – GCF’
A type of repurchase agreement which is executed without the designation of specific securities as collateral until near the end of the trading day. General collateral financing (GCF) trades utilize several Inter-Dealer Brokers, who act as intermediaries for the GCF trades. GCF trades allow both borrowers and lenders in the repo market to reduce their costs and decrease the complexity of handling securities and fund transfers for repo agreements.
Explaining ‘General Collateral Financing Trades – GCF’
The delay granted in specifying the exact collateral for the repo is advantageous for borrowers, who are then able to utilize the securities they have on hand to clear other, unrelated trades as necessary throughout the day. This avoids the time-consuming process of swapping collateral if it becomes needed by the borrower. GCF trades are also advantageous in that the use of the Inter-Dealer Broker allows borrowers and lenders to net out all of their GCF repo obligations at the end of each trading day, greatly decreasing the number of costly securities and fund transfers that must take place.
Further Reading
- The repurchase agreement refined: GCF repo – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
- Introduction [to A Primer on the GCF Repo® Service] – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
- The financial plumbing of the GCF Repo® Service – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
- Method and apparatus for gcf repo index instrument – patents.google.com [PDF]
- Repurchase agreements with negative interest rates – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
- What's Up with GCF Repo®? – ideas.repec.org [PDF]
- Understanding the Interbank GCF Repo® Market – ideas.repec.org [PDF]
- Collateral values by asset class: Evidence from primary securities dealers – academic.oup.com [PDF]
