Singapore Swap Offer Rate

Singapore Dollar Swap Offer Rate (SOR) is an implied interest rate, determined by examining the spot and forward foreign exchange rate between the US dollar (USD) and Singapore dollar (SGD) and the appropriate US dollar interest rate for the term of the forward. [1][2]

Overview

SOR reflects the cost of borrowing SGD synthetically by borrowing USD and subsequently "swapping" to SGD by using an FX Swap. It is an alternative to Singapore Interbank Offered Rate (SIBOR) which is a measure of the interbank money market rates.[3]

As of December 2018, SOR is measured and published periods of overnight, 1 month, 3 month, and 6 month. Like SIBOR, SOR is set by the Association of Banks in Singapore, and is also publicly available.[4]

Residential property loans in Singapore are no longer pegged to SOR as banks have withdrawn them in 2017. SOR-pegged mortgages in recent years are not as popular as SIBOR-linked mortgages or Fixed Deposit Rates linked mortgages due to its volatility.[5] They are still available in the wholesale and commercial lending space.

2023 - present

The Singapore Swap Offer Rate (SOR), once a benchmark for Singapore-dollar financial products, was officially discontinued on 30 June 2023 as part of the global phase out of LIBOR. Singapore has since completed transition to the Singapore Overnight Rate Average (SORA), a more robust benchmark base on actual overnight interbank transactions. In February 2025, the industry Steering Committee announced that the transition from both SOR and SIBOR to SORA had been successfully completed, concluding its work SORA-linked loans, bonds and derivatives now exceed S$3 trillion. SOR is consequently no longer in new financial products and is now primarily of historical significance.[6][7][8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Switching to SORA: What you need to know". MoneySense. Retrieved 3 August 2026.
  2. ↑ "FAQs on LIBOR and SOR Transition" (PDF). 2024.
  3. ↑ "What is SIBOR and SOR?". Yahoo Finance. 27 September 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
  4. ↑ "Rads MACD Trend Forex Trading Strategy". 21 September 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  5. ↑ "Precision Forex Trading with Smart EAs". 11 December 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  6. ↑ "Steering Committee announces successful completion of transition from SOR and SIBOR to SORA". Allen & Gledhill. Retrieved 3 August 2026.
  7. ↑ "Roadmap for Transition of Interest Rate Benchmarks:" (PDF). 2019.
  8. ↑ "The move from SOR/SIBOR to SORA: What you should know". 2022.