SOFR Academy

SOFR Academy, Inc. is a U.S.-based economic education and market information provider. In connection with global reference rate reform and the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the firm operationalized benchmark credit spreads US-dollar Across-the-curve credit spread indices (AXI) that can be referenced in lending products in conjunction with the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) to mitigate mismatches for financial institutions between their assets and liabilities in times of market stress thereby promoting their ability to provide credit.

SOFR Academy is a member of various industry and academic associations such as the American Economic Association (AEA), the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA), the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), the Bankers Association for Finance and Trade (BAFT), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Bankers Association (ABA), the United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC), and the Bretton Woods Committee (BWC).

Foundation

Founded in 2020, SOFR Academy was established by Marcus A. Burnett, a former interest rate trader and capital markets consultant who began his career at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). The firm initially focused on economic education in connection with reference rate reform, and in 2021, expanded their concentration in response to a request by ten U.S. regional banks for the development of a credit spread supplement for SOFR.

The firm's panel of advisors includes academics from Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, New York University, Tsinghua University, University of Oxford, and the London Business School. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Haoxiang Zhu is a former advisor of the firm and stepped down in November 2021 prior to being appointed as the Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Division of Trading and Markets. Former Federal Reserve Board and United States Department of the Treasury economist, Samim Ghamami, joined the firm as a senior advisor in 2021 and currently serves as an economist at the SEC's Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA). In 2022, Alex Edmans was appointed to the firms panel of Advisors. In 2023, former J.P. Morgan Head of US Interest Rate Strategy, Alex Roever, joined the firm as a senior advisor.

SOFR Academy is backed by leading Austin-based venture firm 8VC, led by Palantir Technologies founder Joe Lonsdale, as well as people such as Robert Litterman, who spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs and developed the Black–Litterman model together with Fischer Black in 1990.

Operationalization of AXI and FXI

In 2021, SOFR Academy announced its intention to publish the Across-the-Curve Credit Spread Indices to assist the market with U.S. Dollar LIBOR transition. In 2022, Invesco Indexing LLC, an independent index provider owned by global asset manager Invesco Ltd (NYSE: IVZ), partnered with SOFR Academy to launch the first-of-their-kind US-dollar Across-the-Curve Credit Spread Indices ("AXI") and US-dollar Financial Conditions Credit Spread Indices ("FXI"). The US-dollar denominated AXI and FXI benchmark credit spreads are accessible via Bloomberg and Refinitiv / LSEG.

These indices work in conjunction with the SOFR and address a concern communicated by a group of American banks. This concern was that under a SOFR-only environment in times of economic stress, the return on banks' SOFR-linked loans would decline, while banks' unhedged costs of funds would increase, thus creating a significant mismatch between bank assets (loans) and liabilities (borrowings). AXI and FXI were discussed at the Credit Sensitivity Group Workshops hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

AXI / FXI was first conceived jointly by Darrell Duffie at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Antje Berndt and Yichao Zhu at the Australian National University. In 2014, Duffie chaired the Market Participants Group, charged by the Financial Stability Board with recommending reforms to Libor, Euribor, and other interest rate benchmarks.

SOFR Academy has commissioned AXI / FXI feasibility studies for the following countries and regions.
*China under the leadership of academics from Tsinghua University
*Europe under the leadership of Rama Cont, Professor of Mathematical Finance at the University of Oxford and Susanna Sarayon
*Japan under the leadership of academics from Keio University and Seikei University
*Additional AXI / FXI feasibility studies are in progress for Brazil, India, and Mexico.

Further reading

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{{Reference rates

American companies established in 2020
Financial services companies based in New York City
Derivatives (finance)
Market data
Reference rates