€STR
Euro Short-Term Rate — the euro risk-free benchmark rate, published daily by the European Central Bank.
€STR — Euro Short-Term Rate
€STR (Euro Short-Term Rate, pronounced "ESTER") is the benchmark interest rate for euro (EUR) financial contracts. It represents the wholesale euro unsecured overnight borrowing costs of euro area banks.
Key Facts
- Published by: European Central Bank (ECB)
- Day count convention: Actual/360
- Available from: 2 October 2019
- Publication time: 8:00 AM CET (9:00 AM CET on days following a holiday)
- Calculation method: Volume-weighted trimmed mean of overnight unsecured deposits
- Daily transaction count: ~30,000–40,000 transactions, ~€35–50 billion daily
€STR vs EONIA
€STR replaced EONIA (Euro Overnight Index Average) as the EUR reference rate. EONIA was discontinued on 3 January 2022. During a transition period, EONIA was computed as €STR + 8.5 bps to allow contracts to migrate gradually.
€STR vs EURIBOR
€STR and EURIBOR serve different purposes:
| Feature | €STR | EURIBOR |
|---|---|---|
| Tenor | Overnight | 1W, 1M, 3M, 6M, 12M |
| Basis | Actual transactions | Panel-based estimates |
| Administrator | ECB | EMMI (European Money Markets Institute) |
| License required | No (public) | Yes (commercial use) |
| Day count | Act/360 | Act/360 |
For floating-rate loans that need a term rate equivalent to EURIBOR, some market participants use compounded €STR in arrears as an alternative.
Use in Loans
€STR is increasingly used in EUR-denominated floating-rate loans, particularly for deals that wish to reference a purely transaction-based, manipulation-resistant rate. It is used with compounded in arrears methodology, consistent with SOFR and SONIA.
Use the RFR Loan Calculator to calculate €STR-based loan interest with daily Act/360 compounding.