CRTs often involve complex structures in which special-purpose companies are set up to provide protection to the bank through a credit-default swap, a derivatives contract that pays the buyer if a designated bond or loan portfolio defaults, and are in turn funded through the sale of notes to investors.
Launched in May 2011 with an initial investment of $75 million, Fery’s Toro II strategy, part of the firm’s Chenavari Credit Fund, is built on CRTs. Since then, Chenavari, with $4 billion under management across two funds, has invested about $1 billion in about 20 CRT deals, Fery says. The Toro II strategy earned 43 percent from its inception through the end of July.
While it’s impossible to know how many CRTs exist in total because most of the deals are private, regulatory filings indicate that European banks have engaged in at least $30 billion of these trades since 2009. CRTs use the same instruments, such as collateralized loan obligations and CDSs, that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis.
Regulators are wary of the banking industry’s renewed interest in risk shifting. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced in December that it was considering new rules that would make CRTs more expensive for banks, potentially stemming the flow of deals. The new rules, which were expected to be announced in September, would have to be adopted by national regulators.
Christine Lang, a Swiss banking regulator who sits on one of the committee’s work groups, says it has warned banks against gaming new capital requirements.
“Now, we may have to come down very heavy on the industry,” she says.
Read more: Banks Allying With Hedge Funds as Capital Rules Bite - Bloomberg
Launched in May 2011 with an initial investment of $75 million, Fery’s Toro II strategy, part of the firm’s Chenavari Credit Fund, is built on CRTs. Since then, Chenavari, with $4 billion under management across two funds, has invested about $1 billion in about 20 CRT deals, Fery says. The Toro II strategy earned 43 percent from its inception through the end of July.
While it’s impossible to know how many CRTs exist in total because most of the deals are private, regulatory filings indicate that European banks have engaged in at least $30 billion of these trades since 2009. CRTs use the same instruments, such as collateralized loan obligations and CDSs, that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis.
Regulators are wary of the banking industry’s renewed interest in risk shifting. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced in December that it was considering new rules that would make CRTs more expensive for banks, potentially stemming the flow of deals. The new rules, which were expected to be announced in September, would have to be adopted by national regulators.
Christine Lang, a Swiss banking regulator who sits on one of the committee’s work groups, says it has warned banks against gaming new capital requirements.
“Now, we may have to come down very heavy on the industry,” she says.
Read more: Banks Allying With Hedge Funds as Capital Rules Bite - Bloomberg
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