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Tying Loan Interest Rates to Borrowers’ CDS Spreads
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Tying Loan Interest Rates to Borrowers’ CDS Spreads


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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Analytical
  • Scientific

Recommendation

The search for greater efficiency in finance is a hallmark of the past few decades. But a good engineer knows that a little bit of friction can keep a system from spiraling out of control. Economists Ivan T. Ivanov, João A.C. Santos and Thu Vo investigate the effects of a recent financial innovation – corporate loan pricing tied to credit default swaps (CDS). Though offering cheaper capital, CDS-linked loans may undermine some of the main stabilizers of the economy. getAbstract recommends this provocative, though technically challenging, investigation into the broader impacts of CDS-linked loans to bankers and corporate finance executives.

Take-Aways

  • In 2008, banks started extending corporate loans and lines of credit with variable interest rates using market-based pricing tied to credit default swaps (CDS) or CDS indexes (CDX).
  • Loans tied to CDS spreads reflect the day-to-day risk profile of a borrower, since the CDS spread represents the market’s take on a firm’s creditworthiness, thereby allowing banks to reduce their credit-monitoring expenses.
  • These market-based loans are approximately 40 basis points cheaper, on average, than conventional bank loans.

About the Authors

Ivan T. Ivanov is an economist at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. João A.C. Santos is an economist at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Thu Vo is a researcher at the Amherst Securities Group.