Today, Barchart, a leading provider of financial market data and technology, and American Financial Exchange (AFX), an electronic exchange for direct interbank lending and borrowing for American financial institutions, have announced a new data partnership where Barchart has become a distributor of the Ameribor interbank interest rate.
Barchart is the first financial data provider to make Ameribor available via API access. Ameribor is a transaction-based short-term interest rate based on loans executed between U.S. depositories on the AFX Electronic Trading System. Available via Barchart OnDemand, users can license access to the overnight 30-day weighted average Ameribor Rate. The rate is calculated using the 30 trading day rolling average of the weighted average daily volume in the AFX overnight unsecured market. The rate is denoted as a 360-day annualized percentage rate up to the fifth decimal.
"At a time when the public is focused on the implication of the transition to a new benchmark interest rate, the dissemination of a transaction-based rate such as Ameribor can be of tremendous value to financial institutions around the country. We are very excited to work with a sector leader such as Barchart to offer Ameribor to their client base," said Dr. Richard L. Sandor, Chairman and CEO of AFX.
"We are thrilled to partner with AFX as they are a leading force in creating innovative products for interbank loans, as well as in creating new interest rate benchmarks like Ameribor," said Mark Haraburda, CEO of Barchart. "To get the chance to work with Dr. Sandor and his team, is truly exciting. Dr. Sandor's experience spans the launch of interest rate futures in the 1970s to carbon offsets and climate related risk management to AFX, and much more. We plan to bring our innovative data management and distribution capabilities to AFX's proprietary data sets," added Haraburda.
Since AFX opened on December 11, 2015, membership has grown from six banks to 87 institutions (75 banks and 12 non-banks) as of April 24, 2018, representing over $1.1 trillion in assets. On April 24, AFX had a record day with $897 million transacted. AFX has a presence in 48 states and Puerto Rico. AFX has extended its membership beyond banks to also include broker-dealers, private equity firms, business development corporations (BDCs), hedge funds, futures commission merchants (FCMs), insurance companies, asset managers and finance companies. Current AFX markets are overnight unsecured loans, 7-day secured loans and a new Deposit product.