Business, Legal & Accounting Glossary
A Credit Default Swap or CDS is actually a swap contract. For this, the buyer of this type of swap is provided with protection when making numerous payments to the seller, who is also protected. In exchange for making this swap, the seller is given a payoff if for some reason the bond or loan were to default. The easiest way to think of the Credit Default Swap or CDS is that this bilateral contract is set up between the buyer and seller so both parties are protected.
A credit default swap (CDS) is a form of insurance on a financial instrument such as a bond. It is a way of managing risk that turned into something else entirely.
A credit default swap is a credit derivative. A credit default swap is also called CDS.
A credit default swap is similar to an insurance contract in that it transfers credit risk associated with a transaction or investment product from the purchaser of such credit default swap to the seller of the credit default swap. Under the terms of a credit default swap contract, the seller agrees to bear the credit risk of a counterparty or an investment product in exchange for premium payments by the buyer of the credit default swap. In the event, a credit event is triggered (i.e. bankruptcy, payment default), the seller of the credit default swap will have to compensate the buyer of such credit default swap in accordance with the terms of the credit default swap contract. For example, during a cash settlement of a credit default swap, the seller will pay the buyer of the credit default swap the difference between the market value and the par value of the investment product. Credit default swaps are sold over the counter. Credit default swaps are not regulated so there are added risks that the seller will not perform if a credit event is triggered.
While credit default swap trades can be resold on the open market multiple times, there is no oversight to guarantee that in the end, the credit default swap seller will be able to pay up if a credit event is triggered. Credit default swap contracts have been under a lot of scrutinies as a result of the financial events that started with the US subprime loan crisis in 2007 and ultimately resulted in the bankruptcy, buy-out, and government take over of many major financial institutions (i.e. Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers)
If the buyer were to purchase a bond whereby an obligation with the government or a corporation has been created, the issuer of the bond becomes known as the “reference entity”. However, the bond associated with the Credit Default Swap contract is actually not included. Instead, the buyer making quarterly premium payments, which are known as the “spread”, is protected in that the bond would be what it is sold as and the seller would be protected in case the buyer was to stop making the required payments.
With a Credit Default Swap or CDS, if the buyer were to default to the reference entity, the seller would pay the buyer the par value of that bond but in return, the buyer would give the seller the physical bond. Now, there are cases when the buyer and seller will agree to make a cash settlement or the reference entity might actually go to auction. Regardless, with a Credit Default Swap, if the buyer were to default, this would be called the “Default Event”.
Like all derivatives, the credit default swap (or CDS) is priced upon an underlying asset or pool of assets. In the case of a CDS, the underlying asset is often a bond, however, it can be other credit instruments such as loans as well.
The CDS allows the owner of credit instruments to transfer the risk of an adverse event such as default, bankruptcy, or a downgrade, without transferring ownership of the underlying asset. Essentially when you buy or sell a CDS, you are buying or selling the risk. The buyer of the CDS is buying protection for their asset (selling risk), while the CDS seller is selling protection (buying the risk). The protection buyer of the CDS makes periodic premium payments to the protection seller while the protection seller pays the buyer a set value of the asset only if the prescribed adverse event as listed in the specific CDS contract occurs.
In practice, the set value of the asset is often the par value of a bond.
The idea behind insurance is to transfer the risk of something bad happening to you, where, if it does happen, you are badly hurt, to someone else to whom it would not be as big a problem if the same event happened.
For instance, suppose you have a house worth $200,000 and you are afraid of what would happen if it burned down. Well, you would be out $200,000 and a place to live. Both are not good. So, you buy some fire insurance for, say, $4,000 per year (expensive, maybe, but this is just an example). Now, if your house burns down, you will be paid by the insurance company $200,000, so you won’t be out the money and you can use that to buy a new house, so you still have a place to live.
In other words, you have transferred the risk of a major disaster to you, to someone else — the insurance company. They are willing to do this because lots of people are paying them for similar things and the chance of all those bad events happening all at the same time is very low. You might be the only one with a burned-down house that year and they’ve got lots of customers. Their risk is spread out.
In essence, you have sold the risk of something bad happening, to someone else. You pay that person a premium and they’ll make you whole if the bad event actually does happen. You’ve managed your risk.
Same thing with a credit default swap. Except instead of a house, you’ve got, say, a $200,000 bond from Lehman Brothers. And you’re worried about not getting back the money you’ve loaned Lehman in case they default. So you go to someone else and ask how much it would cost for them to insure it. They tell you 2% a year. You say great, pay the $4,000 premium every year, and now if Lehman goes bust, that person owes you $200,000. You’ve swapped the risk of Lehman going into default.
One minor change, though. $200,000 is nothing in these kinds of transactions. $1 billion is a lot more common and the 2% premium comes out to $20 million per year. Now it looks interesting.
So far, nothing’s wrong. You’ve got a bond in a stable long-lived company and you’ve got insurance in case the unthinkable happens. But the next step makes it even more interesting. Let’s go back to the houses.
What if Bob, the guy down the street, thinks your house looks pretty good, but he is worried too that it could burn down. So he buys a fire insurance policy on it under the same terms. He pays $2,000 each year so that, if the house burns down, he’ll receive $200,000. Jack, his friend, does the same thing. As does Joe, Roger, and Henry. But their motivation is different. You bought the insurance because you’re afraid of the risk of fire and what that would mean to you. They just want to see your house burn down so they get paid. You are insuring. They are gambling.
A few years ago, the same thing started happening with CDSs. Remember that $20 million that you paid? Pretty good money for insuring against something that wouldn’t happen, right? So that person says that he’s willing to insure other people for the same thing. Pay me $20 million a year and, if Lehman defaults, I’ll pay you $1 billion. Are you willing Bob, Jack, Joe, Roger, and Henry? How about you, Sue, Anne, Denise, and Barb? Woo hoo! I just made $200 million. What’s that? I’m on the hook for $10 billion if Lehman goes into default? Big deal! Lehman’s rock solid.
What that person who just made $200 million has done is leverage his assets. It is highly unlikely that he has $10 billion in cash lying around to pay out in case Lehman defaults. More like $1 billion. That’s enough to cover your CDS, but all he got was a 2% return. Pitiful. Now, though, he’s used his small asset base to boost his return into something respectable. $200 million. Just like a lever can turn a little bit of force into a powerful mover, this leveraging has turned his small asset base into something that returns a lot of money, some 20% per year. He’s “leveraged” at 10-to-1. As long as nothing happens, that’s great.
Suppose Bob is the manager of a small hedge fund. And he’s bought one of those CDSs on Lehman for $20 million. But the price, the premium, is dependent on how risky Lehman’s bonds are viewed as being. A bit of time has passed and a couple of rumbles have come out of Lehman (must have eaten something that disagreed with it). Now the price is 3%. So Bob sells a CDS for that and is paid $30 million. What he’s just done is set up a hedge. He’s on the hook for $1 billion if Lehman goes down, which he doesn’t have (he’s leveraged his $100 million) for which he is paid $30 million, but he gets $1 billion if Lehman goes down, for which he is paying $20 million. The net effect is he receives $1 billion which he turns around and sends on, except that he gets to keep the $10 million difference in premiums, at no risk.
Unless the person who would owe him $1 billion doesn’t pay. Answer? More CDSs!
And around and around we go.
The above is a fairly simple example that outlines what goes on. The problems, as pointed out by critics such as George Soros and Warren Buffett are the following.
Credit default swaps are used by banks and insurance companies in an effort to manage and lessen their credit risk. Financial companies support the CDS market as it allows them greater flexibility in managing their risks.
CDS
Bond
Credit derivative
Derivative
Loan
Risk
Recent M
A specific kind of counterparty agreement that allows the transfer of third-party credit risk from one party to the other. One party in the swap is a lender and faces credit risk from a third party, and the counterparty in the credit default swap agrees to insure this risk in exchange for regular periodic payments (essentially an insurance premium). If the third-party defaults, the party providing insurance will have to purchase from the insured party the defaulted asset. In turn, the insurer pays the insured the remaining interest on the debt, as well as the principal.
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This glossary post was last updated: 28th November, 2021 | 0 Views.