We analyse the impact of stakeholder interactions with the market as a consequence of the negative interest rate regime on the pricing of selected Floating Rate Notes (FRNs). The range of reactivity of financial markets and issuers to uncertainty caused by an untested boilerplate term in bond contracts are thoroughly outlined. The subject clause stipulates ‘not applicable’ as the minimum rate of interest, raising confusion regarding payment obligations between issuers and investors. We highlight the range of challenges by drawing parallels with the pari passu saga, noting a comparatively faster qualitative response to legal uncertainty across the FRN industry. We support these findings empirically, by observing that markets do –to varying degrees– price stakeholder activities with possible impact on the legal certainty of FRNs, like court decisions, industry association statements, and public positions of sovereigns. In turn, issuers are willing to react to legal risks quickly, if costs of inertia are low. This is reflected also in the relevant changes in the FRN issuance structure in the past few years. The announcement of further lower for longer rates in the Euro Area provides evidence that the FRN market appreciates the current protection of negative coupons even under a lower Euribor. Consequently, this appears to confirm a situation where Floating Rate Notes turned de facto into Floored Rate Notes, in part because of legal uncertainty in the N/A clause.

我们分析了负利率制度对利益相关者与市场互动的影响，对选定的浮动利率债券（FRN）的定价。全面概述了金融市场和发行人对债券合同中未经测试的样板条款引起的不确定性的反应范围。该主题条款规定“不适用”为最低利率，这引起了发行人与投资者之间的付款义务的混淆。我们通过与para passu传奇相提并论，突显了挑战的范围，并指出在FRN行业中对法律不确定性的定性响应相对较快。我们通过观察市场在不同程度上对利益相关者的价格进行定价，并可能对FRN的法律确定性产生影响，从经验上支持这些发现，例如法院判决，行业协会声明和主权国家的公共职位。反过来，如果惯性成本较低，发行人愿意对法律风险做出快速反应。过去几年中，FRN发行结构的相关变化也反映了这一点。欧元区宣布进一步降低利率，以进一步证明欧元区市场即使在较低的欧洲央行（Euribor）利率下也能保护负息票。因此，这似乎证实了浮动利率票据事实上变成了浮动利率票据的情况，部分原因是由于N / A条款中的法律不确定性。过去几年中，FRN发行结构的相关变化也反映了这一点。欧元区宣布进一步降低利率，以进一步证明欧元区市场即使在较低的欧洲央行（Euribor）利率下也能保护负息票。因此，这似乎证实了浮动利率票据事实上变成了浮动利率票据的情况，部分原因是由于N / A条款中的法律不确定性。过去几年中，FRN发行结构的相关变化也反映了这一点。欧元区宣布进一步降低利率，这进一步证明了FRN市场赞赏欧元负息票的当前保护，即使在较低的Euribor利率下也是如此。因此，这似乎证实了浮动利率票据事实上变成了浮动利率票据的情况，部分原因是由于N / A条款中的法律不确定性。