Dealers back ‘SOFR first’ in bid to jump-start new rate adoption

Term SOFR recommendation would follow “in days, not weeks” of US swaps quoting convention switch

Large banks are rallying behind a July 26 deadline for cementing the secured overnight financing rate, or SOFR, as the primary benchmark when quoting US dollar swaps in the interdealer market.

The so-called “SOFR first” initiative, backed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Market Risk Advisory Committee (MRAC) and announced on June 8, calls on interdealer brokers to switch US dollar swap quoting conventions to SOFR in an effort to bolster “disappointing” liquidity in the Federal