Credit Rating Impact on CDO Evaluation

41 Pages Posted: 10 Nov 2013

See all articles by Daniel Roesch

Daniel Roesch

University of Regensburg

Harald (Harry) Scheule

University of Technology Sydney (UTS) - School of Finance and Economics; Financial Research Network

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

One of the most significant developments in international credit markets in recent years has been the trade in Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO), which has enabled financial institutions to repackage the credit risk of an asset portfolio into tranches to be transferred to investors. The present paper evaluates the credit risk of such a portfolio and the related tranches by applying two prominent prototypes for credit ratings, namely the point-in-time and through-the-cycle approach. The central parameters default probability and correlation are forecast for multiple years and related forecasting errors are included. The article’s main findings are that banks which transfer debt tranches but retain an equity part and apply a through-the-cycle rating approach may be exposed to higher insolvency risk. Firstly, the credit risk retained may be underestimated resulting in an inadequate capital allocation. Secondly, the credit risk transferred may be overestimated resulting in additional risk-based transfer costs.

Keywords: Business Cycle, Collateralized Debt Obligation, Correlation, Credit Risk, Default Probability, Point-in-Time, Portfolio, Through-the-Cycle

JEL Classification: G20, G28, C51

Suggested Citation

Roesch, Daniel and Scheule, Harald, Credit Rating Impact on CDO Evaluation (2009). Global Finance Journal, Vol. 19, No. 3, 2009, pp. 235-251, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2349258

Daniel Roesch (Contact Author)

University of Regensburg ( email )

Chair of Statistics and Risk Management
Faculty of Business, Economics and BIS
Regensburg, 93040
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www-risk.ur.de/

Harald Scheule

University of Technology Sydney (UTS) - School of Finance and Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 123
Broadway, NSW 2007
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.uts.edu.au/staff/harald.scheule

Financial Research Network ( email )

C/- University of Queensland Business School
St Lucia, 4071 Brisbane
Queensland
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://www.firn.org.au

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