Substitution Swap

A substitution swap is a bond exchange that trades fixed-income securities for higher-yielding security with a similar coupon rate, maturity date, call feature, credit quality, etc. A substitution swap allows the investor to increase returns without altering the terms or risk level of the security. 

Investors participate in substitution swaps when they believe there is a temporary discrepancy in bond prices or yields-to-maturity due to market disequilibrium.

A swap is the exchange of one security for another to change some feature of the invest. The swap may also happen when investment objectives change. For example, an investor may engage in exchange to improve the maturity date or the credit quality of the security. Bond swaps are often undertaken to avoid capital gains taxes that would occur in an outright sale. There are many types of exchanges including currency swaps, commodity swaps, and interest rate swaps.

A substitution swap might occur between two bonds that are each 20-year AAA-rated corporate bonds with a 10 percent coupon, but one costs $1,000, and another is temporarily at a discount at $950. Over a year, both bonds yield $100 in interest, but the holder of the first bond has gained 10 percent per dollar invested while the holder of the second bond has gained 10.5 percent per dollar invested since they paid $50 less for their bond.

As the example shows, the imbalance in yield of two otherwise identical bonds is often quite small, perhaps a few basis points. But by reinvesting the extra return over the period that the two bonds differ, the gain can add up to a full percentage point or more. This strategy is called realized compound yield and is what makes substitution swaps attractive. After a period of time called the workout period, market forces will bring the two returns together, so substitution swaps are usually considered short-term market plays—generally a year or less.

Swaps are not traded on an exchange but through the over-the-counter (OTC) market between private parties. As such, there is a risk of counterparty default or the misrepresentation of bond qualities. Moreover, the strategy involves some element of market prediction, which is inherently risky. Because of these factors, the complexity of the process and the need to invest large sums to realize meaningful gains over incremental yield shifts, substitution swaps are primarily undertaken by specialty firms and institutions rather than individual investors.