Greece Deal Triggers $3B in Default Swaps: ISDA
Greece’s use of collective action clauses forcing investors to take losses under its debt restructuring triggers payouts on $3 billion of default insurance, the International Swaps & Derivatives Association said.
A total 4,323 credit-default swap contracts may now be settled after ISDA’s determinations committee ruled the use of CACs is a restructuring credit event, according to a statement distributed today by Business Wire. Before the ruling, Greek swaps rose to a record $7.68 million in advance and $100,000 annually to insure $10 million of debt for five years.
Swaps traders will hold an “expedited” auction March 19 to “maximize” the number of bonds that can be used to set payout amounts on the contracts, New York-based ISDA said on the committee’s website today. Auctions, which set a recovery value on the underlying bonds, typically are held about a month after credit events are triggered.
A swaps trigger “raises the question of which country is next and which banks are most exposed,” Hank Calenti, a bank analysts at Societe Generale SA in London, wrote in a note. “Less than six months ago we had the head of the ECB exhorting that there must be no credit event on Greece,” he wrote.
Policy makers including former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet opposed payouts on Greek credit- default swaps on concern traders would be encouraged to bet against failing nations and worsen the region’s debt crisis.
“It’s important to keep investor confidence in this instrument as it will affect the ability of sovereigns to issue bonds,” according to Alessandro Giansanti, a senior rates strategist at ING Groep NV in Amsterdam, who said the decision will “restore confidence” in the market. “If you want to attract investor demand, you have to offer them an instrument that will allow them to hedge exposure, and CDS is the best instrument for that.”
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A total 4,323 credit-default swap contracts may now be settled after ISDA’s determinations committee ruled the use of CACs is a restructuring credit event, according to a statement distributed today by Business Wire. Before the ruling, Greek swaps rose to a record $7.68 million in advance and $100,000 annually to insure $10 million of debt for five years.
Swaps traders will hold an “expedited” auction March 19 to “maximize” the number of bonds that can be used to set payout amounts on the contracts, New York-based ISDA said on the committee’s website today. Auctions, which set a recovery value on the underlying bonds, typically are held about a month after credit events are triggered.
A swaps trigger “raises the question of which country is next and which banks are most exposed,” Hank Calenti, a bank analysts at Societe Generale SA in London, wrote in a note. “Less than six months ago we had the head of the ECB exhorting that there must be no credit event on Greece,” he wrote.
Confidence Boost
A settlement may bolster confidence in the $257 billion government-debt insurance market after Greece’s restructuring tested the viability of default swaps as a hedge. Greece reached its target for participation in the debt restructuring after using CACs to force the hand of holdouts, with investors in 95.7 percent of the bonds taking part.Policy makers including former European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet opposed payouts on Greek credit- default swaps on concern traders would be encouraged to bet against failing nations and worsen the region’s debt crisis.
“It’s important to keep investor confidence in this instrument as it will affect the ability of sovereigns to issue bonds,” according to Alessandro Giansanti, a senior rates strategist at ING Groep NV in Amsterdam, who said the decision will “restore confidence” in the market. “If you want to attract investor demand, you have to offer them an instrument that will allow them to hedge exposure, and CDS is the best instrument for that.”
Read more
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