Eurozone Crisis and Banks’ Creditworthiness: What is New for Credit Default Swap Spread Determinants?

The article analyses banks’ credit default swap (CDS) spread determinants, in light of the Eurozone debt crisis. The attention to this aspect is due to the very linkage between banking and sovereign sectors particularly evident during the aforementioned crisis. The study is conducted on a sample of Eurozone banks over the period 2009–2014 through a feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) linear panel data regression. The variables adopted are both balance sheet ratios and macroeconomic factors. The main results confirm the attention pointed at the influence of public conditions to the banking sector, as proved by the significance of variables like the 10-year bond yields or the long-term sovereign rating. It is also interesting to observe the output dealing with public debt, which may suggest opportunities not only of investment but also of speculation for banks on the debt itself. Balance sheet ratios, instead, are not significant. Our study is an additional contribution to the strand of literature that analyses the strong interconnections between the riskiness of banks and the public sector and it is a suggestion to proceed the research with a deeper analysis on systemic risk and its impact on banking CDS spread.

What Drives the Commonality between Credit Default Swap Spread Changes?

This paper documents an increase in the comovement between credit default swap (CDS) spread changes during the 2007–2009 crisis and investigates the source of that increase. One possible explanation is that comovement increased because fundamental values became more correlated. However, I find that changes in fundamentals account for only 23% of the increase in covariance. The remaining increase is attributed to changes in liquidity and the market price of default risk. In contrast, counterparty risk played an insignificant role. Although both contributed, the increase in covariance was driven more by variation in exposures than factor variance–covariance.

The Impact Of CoCo Bonds On Bank Value And Perceived Default Risk: Insights And Evidence From Their Pioneering Use In Europe

Contingent convertible (CoCo) bonds convert to equity during financial distress. They help transfer the responsibility for bearing the costs of poor performance from the taxpayers to the bank owners. Our results are thus relevant for investors, financial decision-makers, and regulators. We analyze the effects of the pioneering use of CoCos in Europe by Lloyds Banking Group in 2009. The bank’s motivation for the issue is explored, considering both its economic situation and the Basel III regulations. We document a reduction in the bank’s market value following the announcement of the intention to issue CoCos. Simultaneously, the credit default swap spread goes up. This study suggests that CoCos can have a negative effect on a bank’s creditworthiness and firm value.