ASX Launches SOFIA Benchmark for Australian Overnight Repo Market

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is launching a new benchmark called SOFIA (Secured Overnight Funding Index Australia), which will provide a transparent reference rate for the country's overnight repo market.

SOFIA has been developed to support transparency, benchmark choice, and confidence in Australia's fixed income markets, which have continued to evolve. The benchmark measures the cost of overnight funding secured against eligible Australian dollar-denominated government securities and is calculated using eligible overnight repo transactions settled through Austraclear.

The ASX first published its beta version of SOFIA in October 2023, allowing users to assess the methodology and provide feedback on the benchmark's design. The benchmark has been developed using observable transaction data from Australia's overnight repo market and incorporates governance and methodology arrangements designed to support transparency and operational resilience.