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Paul asked in Business & FinanceInvesting · 1 decade ago

A bank hedging an interest rate swap with a credit default swap?

Consider the following scenario: a bank enters an interest rate swap in which it pays firm "A" a floating rate and receives a fixed rate. To hedge the risk of firm "A" going bankrupt, the bank enters a credit default swap. How much insurance is the bank looking for in this credit default swap; that is, what are they trying to insure?

For instance, let's say the bank receives a fixed rate from "A" of 6.5%. The bank is willing to pay a fixed rate of 6.45% to a firm on an opposite interest rate swap. Therefore, the banks spread is 5 basis points. Does the bank do a credit default swap for the 6.5% they would have received from firm "A"? Does it do a credit default swap for the spread, .05%? How much insurance does the bank need??

Update:

drm7 - I guess what I'm trying to find out is what % the CDS dealer is going to pay the bank on the notional principal if "A" does default; that is, what is a bank hedging, generically, when buying a CDS? If "A" defaults, does the bank want the entire notional principal they would have gotten if "A" didn't default, or do they just want their spread for any given credit rating, or is it a combination of the two?

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Interest rate swaps and credit default swaps hedge entirely different risks.

    In your example, the bank receives a fixed rate on a loan for 6.5%, but pays 6.45% to a dealer. The dealer will then pay a floating rate (i.e. the "swap rate") to the bank, which depends on the time to maturity and current interest rate environment. The bank in this case wants to take the opportunity to benefit from a rise in interest rates (since it now receives floating from the dealer) but will accept the risk of interest rates falling (which is generally acceptable for a bank, which has mostly floating-rate liabilities).

    To hedge credit risk, the bank will buy a credit default swap from another dealer, and the pricing has nothing to do with the interest rate swap. It will be related to the credit risk of firm "A". Let's say that the 6.5% loan is 200 basis points over treasuries (i.e. a treasury bond maturing at the same time yields 4.5%). The bank will probably have to pay about 2% (the amount of the spread) to another dealer to hedge the risk of the loan, since most of this spread relates to the credit rating of company "A". If company "A" defaults, the CDS dealer must pay the bank off. If "A" pays off the loan, the dealer keeps the 2% payments.

  • 4 years ago

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