Sovereign Risk: A World Without Risk-Free Assets?

Abstract

This volume presents and summarises the proceedings of a one-and-a-half day seminar on sovereign risk hosted by the BIS in January 2013. The event brought together senior central bankers, sovereign ratings analysts, fund managers and other market participants, sovereign legal specialists, risk managers at financial institutions and academics.

In the first panel, three central bank governors discuss sovereign risks and challenges, drawing on their own varied experiences. The second panel addresses the sovereign rating business from a number of angles. The third panel considers the polar case of financial markets without a risk-free sovereign. The fourth panel features legal experts describing how market participants have adapted to the absence of a general legal insolvency framework for the default of a sovereign. The fifth panel looks at sovereign risk management in financial institutions. In a Foreword, the General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements sets down his impressions from the day and a half.

While the full publication can be downloaded using the above link, individual contributions are available separately: Do Good Sovereigns Default? Lessons of History Ratings and Regulation Sovereign Credit Ratings: Help or Hindrance? On Sovereign Ratings: Observations and Implications Sovereign Debt: Financial Market Over-Reliance on Credit Rating Agencies Reflections on the Meaning of ‘Risk Free’ Risk-Free Assets in Financial Markets Financial Markets Without a Risk-Free Sovereign Risk-Free Assets: An Unreachable Dream or a Must Think the Unthinkable on US Debt Sovereign Debt Restructurings: The Legal Context Legal Perspectives on Sovereign Default The Pari Passu Clause in Sovereign Debt Instruments: Developments in Recent Litigation Risk Management in the Face of Risky Sovereign Debt: Four Observations Reserve Management and the Use of Ratings at the Swiss National Bank Sovereign Risk in Bank Regulation and Supervision: Where Do We Stand?