An interest rate that is used as a reference rate for repo transactions (repurchase agreements). An example is the reference rates associated with overnight repurchase agreement (repo) transactions secured by Treasury securities. These rates (quoted in treasury repo transactions) are published to provide market participants such as banks and investors with information regarding the rates associated with repo transactions. Repo reference rates are complied using transaction-level data obtained from various segments of the repo market.

Treasury repo reference rates include the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR) which provides a broad measure of the general overnight financing cost of Treasury securities, and is compiled using the data constructing the broad general collateral rate (BGCR), in addition to transactions cleared through the delivery-versus-payment (DVP) repo service.

The repo market uses two main types of collateral (general and special collateral), and hence repo transactions are carried out as special collateral repo (SC repo) or general collateral repo (GC repo). In the DVP repo market, counterparties select specific securities to serve as collateral (special collateral or SC) for each transaction, while in the tri-party repo market, cash providers only accepts a host of acceptable collateral (general collateral or GC). SOFR is a median of rates across general collateral repo transactions and a selection of special collateral repo transactions.