Is the current turmoil a boon for exchange traded credit derivatives? - Part VIII
One month after the Lehman Brothers and AIG collapses I wrote the following on this blog [ Is the current turmoil a boon for exchange traded credit derivatives? - Part V , Oct 17, 2008]: .....As I stressed a month ago (17/9 AIG+CDS=SOS) I thought the collapse of AIG would be the start.....of the new era where counterparty risk would take center stage...... Now, at least one highly influential academic, Francis Longstaff at UCLA, has studied whether this actually happened (an increased focus on counterparty risk correct). The answer is yes , at least if one believes Longstaff et al. in COUNTERPARTY CREDIT RISK AND THE CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP MARKET The authors find clear evidence of the Lehman default (which occurred two days before the AIG collapse) changing the behavior of dealers towards counterparty risk. Two quotes from Longstaff et al. are “Surprisingly, we find that there is little evidence that dealer credit risk was priced in the CDS market prior to the Lehman bankruptcy………. This ...