The Use (and Abuse) of CDS Spreads During Distress

Carolyne Spackman and Manmohan Singh

No 09/62, IMF Working Papers from International Monetary Fund

Abstract: Credit Default Swap spreads have been used as a leading indicator of distress. Default probabilities can be extracted from CDS spreads, but during distress it is important to take account of the stochastic nature of recovery value. The recent episodes of Landbanski, WAMU and Lehman illustrate that using the industry-standard fixed recovery rate assumption gives default probabilities that are low relative to those extracted from stochastic recovery value as proxied by the cheapest-to-deliver bonds. Financial institutions using fixed rate recovery assumptions could have a false sense of security, and could be faced with outsized losses with potential knock-on effects for other institutions. To ensure effective oversight of financial institutions, and to monitor the stability of the global financial system especially during distress, the stochastic nature of recovery rates needs to be incorporated.

Keywords: Credit risk; Financial institutions; Risk premium; Bond markets; Asset prices; Bankruptcy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fmk and nep-rmg
Date: 2009-03-19
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