STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 21 March 2012

[Demeter]

30. Insurance Pays Off in Greece

http://blogs.wsj.com/eurocrisis/2012/03/20/insurance-pays-off-in-greece/?mod=google_news_blog

A panel of dealers determined in an auction Monday that holders of Greek credit-default swaps would be paid 78.5 cents on the dollar after Greece's giant debt restructuring, a smooth result in line with expectations for a large payout to swapholders.

Credit-default swaps, or CDS, are insurance-like contracts designed to pay off if creditors suffer losses. The auction's outcome means that sellers of the $3.2 billion in outstanding swaps will pay $2.5 billion in compensation to buyers.

In the early days of the Greek debt crisis, European policy makers fretted that triggering payouts on Greek CDS contracts could have destabilizingconsequences for the broader financial system. The European Central Bank, especially, pressed hard to avoid doing do.

But by early this year the fears had abated, and a CDS payout was seen as an almost harmless byproduct of a necessary Greek debt default. Indeed, Monday’s auction had few ripples. Credit-default-swap prices on debt from Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy were all barely changed, according to data provider Markit, which also helped run Monday’s auction. “Despite the high-profile attention on the Greece CDS auction, many market participants felt that it was uneventful and sanitary,” said Otis Casey, a credit analyst at Markit in New York. “Uneventful and sanitary is probably the best compliment a credit-event auction can get.” ...