Counterparty credit risk and the credit default swap market

Counterparty credit risk has become one of the highest-profile risks facing participants in the financial markets. Despite this, relatively little is known about how counterparty credit risk is actually priced. We examine this issue using an extensive proprietary data set of contemporaneous CDS transaction prices and quotes by 14 different CDS dealers selling credit protection on the same underlying firm. This unique cross-sectional data set allows us to identify directly how dealers' credit risk affects the prices of these controversial credit derivatives. We find that counterparty credit risk is priced in the CDS market. The magnitude of the effect, however, is vanishingly small and is consistent with a market structure in which participants require collateralization of swap liabilities by counterparties.     

Implied liquidity risk premium in the term structure of sovereign credit default swap and bond spreads

In this study, we focus on the dynamic properties of the risk-neutral liquidity risk premium specific to the sovereign credit default swap (CDS) and bond markets. We show that liquidity risk has a non-trivial role and participates directly to the variation over time of the term structure of sovereign CDS and bond spreads for both the pre- and crisis periods. Secondly, our results indicate that the time-varying bond and CDS liquidity risk premium move in opposite directions which imply that when bond liquidity risk is high, CDS liquidity risk is low (and vice versa), which may in turn be consistent with the substitution effect between CDS and bond markets. Finally, our Granger causality analysis reveals that, although the magnitude of bond and CDS liquidity risk is substantially different, there is a strong liquidity flow between the CDS and the bond markets, however, no market seems to consistently lead the other.     

Differences of opinion in sovereign credit signals during the European crisis

Motivated by the European debt crisis and the new European Union regulatory regime for the credit rating industry, we analyse differences of opinion in sovereign credit signals and their influence on European stock markets. Rating disagreements have a significant connection with subsequent negative credit actions by each agency. However, links among Moody’s/Fitch actions and their rating disagreements with other agencies have weakened in the post-regulation period. We also find that only S&P’s negative credit signals affect the own-country stock market and spill over to other European markets, but this is concentrated in the pre-regulation period. Stronger stock market reactions occur when S&P has already assigned a lower rating than Moody’s/Fitch prior to taking a further negative action.     

欧洲主权债务危机的发展与应对之策

受近期希腊债务违约风险上升、欧债危机向核心国蔓延、欧洲银行业融资缺口扩大等负面因素冲击,欧洲金融市场遭遇大幅动荡。文章指出,在短期内,防止希腊债务违约是遏制欧债危机进一步蔓延、防范债务危机与银行危机并发的关键;长期而言,欧元及欧盟运作机制的改革将不可避免,完善退出机制将是欧元区长期稳定运作的基石。     

金融危机前后国际信用衍生产品市场的发展及启示

信用衍生产品自问世以来在分散金融机构信用风险、完善信用风险定价机制、提高债券市场流动性等方面发挥了积极的作用。该文介绍了信用衍生产品的主要功能及其在本次金融危机前、中、后三个时期的发展特点,肯定了基础信用衍生产品对金融市场的重要作用,指出中国应推动金融创新,建立有中国特色的信用衍生产品市场。     

欧洲债务危机影响全球金融市场

2011年12月,国际清算银行（BIS）发布季度报告,指出欧债危机已成为影响全球金融市场的主要因素。文章结合这一报告从全球增长预期与货币政策应对、欧债主权债融资形势、欧洲银行融资及清偿力状况、全球溢出效应等多个视角系统而具体地回顾了2011年四季度以来欧债危机形势的演变及影响,以期为投资者分析与展望2012年全球金融市场前景提供参考。     

Tournament incentives and firm credit risk: Evidence from credit default swap referenced firms

In this paper, we evaluate the impact of managerial tournament incentives on firm credit risk in credit default swap (CDS) referenced firms. We find that intra‐firm tournament incentives are negatively related to credit risk. Our results suggest that tournament incentives reduce credit risk by alleviating the potential for underinvestment when managers are concerned about exacting empty creditors. Further, we find that tournament incentives decrease credit risk when internal governance is strong or product market competition is intense. Taken together, our results suggest that creditors perceive senior manager tournament incentives (SMTI) as a critical determinant of a firm's credit risk, particularly in settings where managerial risk aversion is high.     

Economic links and credit spreads

Counterparty risk is an important determinant of corporate credit spreads. However, there are only a few techniques available to isolate it from other factors. In this paper we describe a model of financial networks that is suitable for the construction of proxies for counterparty risk. Using data on North American supplier–customer network of public companies, we find that, for each supplier, counterparties’ leverage and option implied volatilities are significant determinants of corporate credit spreads in the period after the 2008–2009 U.S. recession. Our findings are robust after controlling for several idiosyncratic, industry, and market factors.     

The pricing of accruals quality in credit default swap spreads

We examine the association between accounting information risk, measured with accruals quality (AQ), and credit spreads, primarily measured with credit default swap (CDS) spreads. Theoretically, AQ measures the precision with which accruals map into cash flows. Better AQ implies a more precise estimate of future cash flows and, we predict, a reduction in credit spreads due to resulting lower uncertainty regarding the ability to meet debt interest and principal payments. In support of this hypothesis, we find a negative relationship between AQ and CDS spreads whereby better AQ is associated with lower CDS spreads. Additionally, we investigate the components of total AQ and find that innate AQ is more strongly associated with CDS spreads than is discretionary AQ. We further show that AQ moderates the market's pricing of earnings: the relationship between earnings and CDS spreads weakens as AQ worsens. Together, our results indicate that accounting information risk is priced in credit spreads and that the CDS market responds not only to the level of earnings, but the quality thereof as well.     

Trade credit in Europe: Financial constraint and substitution effect in crisis times

This paper aims to prove whether financial rationing condition leads European enterprises to increase trade debt during the period 2008–2016 and whether companies offering deferred payments to customers obtain trade debt from suppliers. The work contributes to the existing literature by finding new empirical evidence on the substitution and matching hypotheses in times of crises, measuring the specific rationing conditions for businesses and distinguishing large, medium, small and micro-sized companies. The results revealed that, in times of crisis, medium, small and micro firms, highly likely to be constrained, employ trade credit more extensively, as those granting deferred payment terms.     

Investment and asset securitization with an option‐for‐guarantee swap

This article addresses the investment and financing decisions of entrepreneurs entering into option‐for‐guarantee swaps (OGSs). OGSs increase investment option value significantly. Entrepreneurs initially accelerate their investments and then postpone them as funding gaps grow. Guarantee costs increase with project risks when the funding gap is sufficiently small or large, but the opposite holds true otherwise. Investments are postponed when project risks, effective tax rates, or bankruptcy costs increase. Surprisingly, the higher the project risk, the more the entrepreneur will borrow, with a much higher leverage than predicted by classic models. Entrepreneurs can use OGSs to securitize their assets.     

金融信用发展演变研究

由信用风险引发的美国金融危机引起了我们对金融信用的反思。随着金融信用发展,金融信用的内涵和外延在不断变化。本文研究了金融信用的演进历程,根据不同发展时期的特征,将金融信用的发展划分为五个阶段:道德化、法制化、商业化、证券化及风险的市场化阶段。每一发展阶段,金融信用的作用和蕴含的风险是不同的,而目前的金融信用蕴含的信用风险,成为金融危机的重要诱因。     

Investor information and bank instability during the European debt crisis

Outside of financial crises, investors have little incentive to produce private information on banks’ short-term liabilities held as information-insensitive safe assets. The same does not hold during crises. We compare the information effects of different policy interventions. We measure information production using credit default swap spreads during the Global Financial Crisis and the European debt crisis. We study abnormal information production around major events and find that capital injections reduced abnormal information production while early European stress tests increased it. High levels of information production predict bank balance sheet contraction and higher government expenditures to support financial institutions.     

The effect of corporate diversification on credit risk: new evidence from European credit default swap spreads

This article investigates the impact of corporate diversification on credit risk. To our best knowledge, this is the first paper to use credit default swap (CDS) spreads instead of bond yield or revalued book values to test the risk‐reduction hypothesis. The analysis relies upon a sample of STOXX^® EUROPE 600 index members and covers the years 2010–2014. After controlling for various CDS‐ and firm‐specific variables, we find that diversification strategies do not significantly lower CDS premiums. Multilevel mediation analysis further shows that information asymmetries overcompensate the risk‐reducing effects resulting from corporate diversification.     

美国次贷危机对中国资产证券化业务的影响及建议

美国次按危机爆发至今,已给美国以及全球金融市场带来了巨大的冲击。面对中国资产证券化发展方向的探讨,文章通过分析美国次贷危机的成因、中国证券化业务发展的现状,对比出美国次贷与中国已开展的证券化业务的本质区别,指出我们应从美国次贷危机中吸取教训,加强业务风险的防范,充分利用我国此项业务开展的后发优势,适当加快试点的步伐。     

An asymmetric dynamic conditional correlation analysis of linkages of European financial institutions during the Greek sovereign debt crisis

This article employs the asymmetric dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) model to assess impacts of the recent sovereign debt crisis on the time-varying correlations of five European financial institutions holding large amounts of Greek sovereign bonds (National Bank of Greece, BNP Paribas, Dexia, Generali, and Commerzbank). Contrary to the results of preceding studies, we find significant increases in the correlations between several combinations of the financial institutions’ stock returns after the inception of the sovereign debt crisis, indicating contagion effects. Moreover, our findings show that the parameter of the standardized negative residuals is statistically significant in the case of DCC estimates between two specific institutions. This suggests that the conditional correlation of stock returns between the two institutions is more significantly influenced by negative shocks than by positive innovations to return.     

信贷危机后 通货紧缩将成为西方经济体主要风险

该文首先简要回顾了信贷危机发生以来全球市场的状况,进而分析了信贷危机对美国消费市场、新兴经济体和全球商品市场的影响,指出商品市场剧烈波动、严峻的通货膨胀对新兴经济体的威胁及其采取的对策;最后该文对通胀前景表示乐观,但认为信贷危机将导致世界经济的萎缩,同时认为通货紧缩将再度成为西方面临的主要风险。