Buy-sell back transaction - SFTR Provision

SFTR Anatomy™ Regulation on Transparency of Securities Financing Transactions and of Reuse (2015/2365/EC (EUR Lex)), aka the securities financing transactions regulation →Go uptown Article 3(8), SFTR 3(8) ‘buy-sell back transaction’ or ‘sell-buy back transaction’ means a transaction by which a counterparty buys or sells securities, commodities, or guaranteed rights relating to title to securities or commodities, agreeing, respectively, to sell or to buy back securities, commodities or such guaranteed rights of the same description at a specified price on a future date, that transaction being a buy-sell back transaction for the counterparty buying the securities, commodities or guaranteed rights, and a sell-buy back transaction for the counterparty selling them, such buy-sell back transaction or sell-buy back transaction not being governed by a repurchase agreement or by a reverse-repurchase agreement within the meaning of point 3(9); (view template) Primary source The ludicrous industry-standard title transfer disclosure document Articles | 3(8) | Buy-sell back transaction | 3(9) Repurchase transaction | 3(10) Margin lending transaction | 3(11) Securities financing transaction | 3(12) Reuse Tell me more Sign up for our newsletter — or just get in touch: for ½ a weekly 🍺 you get to consult JC. Ask about it here.

What is a repo?

In a Nutshell™: A repo, or repurchase agreement, and its close relation the sell/buy-back, is a way of borrowing government bonds.

Documentation: Repos are most commonly documented under a 2000 Global Master Repurchase Agreement, the industry standard English law agreement, published by TBMA and ICMA

Structure: Repos are structured as a spot DVP sale at market, and a later DVP repurchase, also at market, of the same securities (hence, “repurchase”). In any case there is always a cash leg — by which the “Buyer” pays for the govvies — and a securities leg — by which the Seller delivers them. Contrast that with a stock loan where both the Loan and the Collateral leg are physical settlements of securities.

Term: Repo trades are usually very short term, typically overnight.

Reverse repo: a reverse repo is just a repo from the point of view of the buyer. The Buyer buys and agrees to sell back later; the Seller sells and agrees to buy back later.

See also

• Buy/Sell Back Transaction under the Global Master Repurchase Agreement
• repo
• Article 3(11) - securities financing transaction under SFTR