華爾街尋求重啓單一名稱CDS市場

Banks and large investors are seeking to revive a derivative market widely blamed for fanning the financial crisis, as they search for ways to forestall volatility when interest rates rise.

銀行和大投資者尋求重啓一個衍生品市場，以便抑制利率上升時引發的波動。該市場曾被廣泛指責爲助燃了金融危機。

Wall Street is focusing efforts on building up single name credit default swaps, a derivatives contract that tracks the risk of default by a company that sells bonds. Regulators sought to clamp down on this market after the crisis as it was widely blamed for helping to inflate the credit bubble.

華爾街正專注於構建單一名稱信用違約互換(CDS)，此類衍生品合約可用來追蹤一家債券發行企業的違約風險。監管機構在金融危機過後曾尋求取締這個市場，因爲它被廣泛指責爲加劇了信貸泡沫膨脹。

While volumes are resilient for credit derivative indices, swaps on individual companies have lost the support of banks and investors, with volumes now running at less than a third of the peak seen in 2008, according to data from the Bank for International Settlements.

國際清算銀行(BIS)的數據顯示，雖然信用衍生品指數的交易量已經恢復，但針對個別公司的互換合約失去了銀行和投資者的支持，如今的交易量尚不及2008年高峯時期的三分之一。

“Single name CDS offer a clean and efficient way to express credit exposure which the current market structure of the underlying secondary corporate bond market doesn’t afford us,” said Supurna VedBrat, co-head of electronic trading and market structure at BlackRock.

“單一名稱CDS爲表達信貸敞口提供了一種乾淨和高效率的方式，這是基礎的二級公司債券市場當前的市場結構不能爲我們提供的，”貝萊德(BlackRock)電子交易和市場結構聯席主管蘇普爾娜•韋布拉特(Supurna VedBrat)表示。

The demise of CDS has exacerbated the liquidity drought across the broad credit market and dealers argue that a liquid derivative alternative will benefit the buying and selling of corporate debt. “Knowing the fact that having an actively traded single name CDS market has a net positive impact on the broader underlying corporate bond market, I think that we as a market are very interested in seeing a return to liquidity in the product,” said one bank’s head of credit market structure.

CDS的消亡加劇了整個信貸市場的流動性乾枯，交易商們提出，流動性較好的衍生品替代市場將有利於公司債券的買賣。“擁有一個交易活躍的單一名稱CDS市場對整體的基礎企業債券市場利大於弊，基於這個事實，我認爲我們作爲一個市場，很有興趣看到該產品流動性的恢復，”某銀行信貸市場結構的主管表示。

Efforts to limit bond market volatility, characterised by the “taper tantrum” in 2013, have focused on improving the ease of buying and selling corporate bonds in the market.

限制債券市場波動——以2013年的“縮減恐慌”(taper tantrum)爲典型代表——的努力，迄今集中於提高在市場上買賣公司債券的便利程度。

Investors have piled into bonds in recent years as central banks have driven interest rates lower. The rush for bonds has sparked unease among regulators that once interest rates start rising, investors will dump their holdings, sparking a stampede for the exit.

近年來，隨着央行壓低利率，投資者大舉買入債券。蜂擁搶購債券的現象已經引起了監管者的不安，他們擔心一旦利率開始上升，投資者將拋售所持債券，引發一場爭先恐後的退場浪潮。

But fixed income trading remains challenging, driven by banks retreating from their customary role as middle men in bond and credit derivative transactions, due to tougher capital rules.

但固定收益產品的交易仍具有挑戰性，其背後的原因是，隨着資本金規則收緊，各銀行紛紛退出其作爲債券和信貸衍生品交易中介的傳統角色。

Less liquid debt markets have resulted in large money managers sometimes finding it difficult to buy a particular bond they want to own. A credit derivative contract provides an alternative method for gaining exposure to a particular company, without having to own its bonds.

流動性較差的債券市場意味着，大型財富管理機構有時發現難以買到他們希望擁有的某隻債券。信用衍生品合約提供了獲得對某一家公司的敞口、而無需持有其債券的替代方法。

The proposed solution seeks to lower capital costs for banks by moving trades into a clearing house, but that entails raising costs for other investors.

擬議中的解決方案尋求降低銀行的資金成本，具體做法是把交易放到一家清算中心進行清算，但這意味着提高其他投資者的成本。

“There are dealers that have stepped away from this market, largely due to capital constraints,’’ said Michael O’Brien, director of global trading at Eaton Vance. “Making sure it remains viable to trade seems like a no-brainer to me.”

“有一些交易商已經遠離這個市場，主要是由於資本約束，”億廷繁世(Eaton Vance)全球交易總監邁克爾•奧布萊恩(Michael O’Brien)表示。“確保這個市場仍可進行交易，在我看來是毋庸置疑的。”