The LIBOR market model, also known as the BGM Model (Brace Gatarek Musiela Model, in reference to the names of some of the inventors) is a
financial model of
interest rate
An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ...
s. It is used for pricing
interest rate derivative
In finance, an interest rate derivative (IRD) is a derivative whose payments are determined through calculation techniques where the underlying benchmark product is an interest rate, or set of different interest rates. There are a multitude of dif ...
s, especially exotic derivatives like Bermudan swaptions, ratchet caps and floors, target redemption notes, autocaps, zero coupon swaptions,
constant maturity swaps and spread options, among many others. The quantities that are modeled, rather than the
short rate or instantaneous forward rates (like in the
Heath–Jarrow–Morton framework) are a set of
forward rates (also called forward
LIBORs), which have the advantage of being directly observable in the market, and whose volatilities are naturally linked to traded contracts. Each forward rate is modeled by a
lognormal
In probability theory, a log-normal (or lognormal) distribution is a continuous probability distribution of a random variable whose logarithm is normal distribution, normally distributed. Thus, if the random variable is log-normally distributed ...
process under its
forward measure, i.e. a
Black model leading to a Black formula for
interest rate caps. This formula is the market standard to quote cap prices in terms of implied volatilities, hence the term "market model". The LIBOR market model may be interpreted as a collection of forward LIBOR dynamics for different forward rates with spanning tenors and maturities, each forward rate being consistent with a Black interest rate caplet formula for its canonical maturity. One can write the different rates' dynamics under a common pricing
measure, for example the
forward measure for a preferred single maturity, and in this case forward rates will not be lognormal under the unique measure in general, leading to the need for numerical methods such as
Monte Carlo simulation or approximations like the frozen drift assumption.
Model dynamic
The LIBOR market models a set of
forward rates
,
as
lognormal processes. Under the respective
-Forward measure
Here we can consider that
(centered process).
Here,
is the forward rate for the period