Coupon leverage, or leverage factor, is the amount by which a reference rate is multiplied to determine the floating interest rate payable by an inverse floater.[1] Some debt instruments leverage the particular effects of interest rate changes, most commonly in inverse floaters.[2]
As an example, an inverse floater with a multiple may pay interest at the rate, or coupon, of 22 percent minus the product of 2 times the 1-month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).[3] The coupon leverage is 2, in this example, and the reference rate is the 1-month LIBOR.