MT340 — Forward Rate Agreement Confirmation
Bilateral confirmation of a Forward Rate Agreement (FRA) between two financial institutions. The FRA is an OTC interest rate derivative — the instrument that structured the interbank market before modern IRS.
Purpose
MT340 confirms the economic terms of a Forward Rate Agreement: notional, currency, fixing date, maturity date, agreed fixed rate (FRA rate), reference period (3M, 6M), reference index (EURIBOR, SOFR), day count convention (ACT/360, ACT/365). Issued bilaterally after matching in Acumen, MarkitWire or ICELink ; mismatches are escalated to back-office.
Sequences A / B / C
| Sequence | Content |
|---|---|
15A — General Information | :20: ref, :22A: function (NEWT/AMND/CANC), :22B: deal ID, :82a:/:87a: parties. |
15B — Trade | :30T: trade date, :30P: payment, :32B: notional, :30F: fixing, :37M: FRA rate, :14F: day count, :14J: index, :17F: rounding. |
15C — Settlement | :53a: correspondent, :57a: account with, :58a: institutional beneficiary. |
Real-world example
FRA 3x6 EUR 50M, fixing 20 September 2026, rate 3.250% vs EURIBOR 3M, BNP Paribas vs Deutsche Bank:
{1:F01BNPAFRPPAXXX0000000000}{2:I340DEUTDEFFXXXXN}{4:
:15A:
:20:FRA20260518001
:22A:NEWT
:22B:CONF
:22C:BNPAFR/DEUTDE/FRA001
:82A:BNPAFRPPXXX
:87A:DEUTDEFFXXX
:15B:
:30T:20260920
:30P:20261220
:32B:EUR50000000,00
:30F:20260920
:37M:3,250
:14F:ACT/360
:14J:EUSA3
:17F:N
:15C:
:53A:BNPAFRPPXXX
:57A:DEUTDEFFXXX
:58A:DEUTDEFFXXX
-}{5:{CHK:ABCDEF123456}}Common pitfalls
- :14J: outside ISDA codes: use EUSA3 (EURIBOR 3M), USSO3 (USD SOFR 3M), GBP-LIBOR-BBA (retired 2021). Source: ISDA 2006 FRA Definitions Annex.
- :30T: != :30F:: trade date after fixing — invalid.
- :37M: above 4 decimals: exceeds usual FRA precision, may be rejected by some stacks.
- :22A:NEWT on amendment: use AMND or CANC, NEWT creates a duplicate.