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Repurchase Agreement
A repurchase agreement or Repo is a transaction in which Party A sells a security to Party B and agrees to repurchase it at a specific date in the future and at a pre-agreed price. Repos allow Party B to borrow securities and sell them short in the belief that they can be bought back in the market at a cheaper price by the time they must be returned to Party A. The advantage for party A is that it earns added income by lending the securities. Through this operation trader B is effectively a borrower of funds to finance further purchases of securities, and he pays interest to the holder, trader A. The rate of interest used is known as the repo rate. A reverse repo is the reverse situation, whereby the Party A agrees to buy securities from Party B and sell them back at a pre-agreed price and date. Party B is then effectively the lender of funds. Some central banks use repos and reverse repos in government debt as part of their money market operations. Some central banks use repos and reverse repos in government debt as part of their money market operations.