What is a Credit Default Swap?
- A Credit Default Swap (CDS) is a form of protection against credit risk.
- CDS is a bilateral contract where by the credit risk of a reference entity (the issuer) is transferred from the protection buyer to the protection seller.
- The protection buyer pays a fixed premium to the protection seller in return for a contingent payment, which compensates the protection buyer from any loss incurred in case of a credit event.
- A negative credit event (default by a third party) is usually pegged to an obligor’s performance on a reference obligation, like a bond or a loan.
- The standard corporate credit events are bankruptcy, failure to pay, restructuring etc.
- CDS documentation is governed by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA).
- ISDA Agreement provides standard definitions of credit default swaps terms, viz., reference obligation, credit event, reference entity and premium and so on.
- CDS are traded over-the-counter (OTC). Standardization of CDS has made the credit default swap much more attractive to the customers in spite of being an OTC product.
Recent Comments