Bespoke gains pull CLO buyers as market tipped to hit $100bn
Synthetic bespoke issuance could catch up with the more visible CLO market this year, say structured credit specialists

New manager Resco lands ex-credit head to found advisory board
Resco Asset Management, a London based asset manager set up last year, has appointed the first of an anticipated three advisory board members

Triple B fightback has begun, says BNP Paribas
Fallen angel risk – the possibility that a wave of triple B credits could be cut by rating agencies to sub-investment grade – should begin to decline, according to strategists at BNP Paribas

US CLO league tables: new issues drive volumes as Morgan Stanley and Citi occupy top two spots
Two months into 2019 and the US CLO market looks very different to previous years, as the balance of deal origination has changed

CDS sell-off brings profit-taking opportunity for basis trade players
Profit-taking on basis trades between CDS and cash bonds has begun, with the strong run for credit markets since the start of the year having hit a bump yesterday

Credit spread improvement is calm before the storm, warn strategists
European and US credit markets have begun 2019 with a more buoyant tone than they ended 2018, but strategists warn that bearish factors still outweigh and suggest the overall direction of spreads this year is likely to be wider

Credit pickers will win as high yield spreads widen in 2019, predicts Citi
After a volatile 2018 in the credit derivatives market, there are reasons to be optimistic this year for the best credit pickers, according to Citi’s global credit derivatives outlook

Sears leaves mark as credit event scrap hits deadlock
Sears Roebuck Acceptance Corp (SRAC) has prompted the first external review of a credit event since Novo Banco in 2016, after the Americas Determinations Committee (DC) failed to reach agreement on deliverables into an auction to settle the US retailer’s credit default swaps  

Cash-CDS basis set for comeback after "falling knife" mishap, predicts BNP Paribas
The beginning of 2019 should revive interest among credit investors to trade the basis between cash bonds and credit default swaps, according to BNP Paribas strategists – following what they term “falling knife” dynamics in this year’s fourth quarter

Creditex obtains CFTC swap execution facility exemption
Creditex, the electronic brokerage for corporate bonds and credit default swaps, has been granted an exemption from a requirement to register with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a swap execution facility

Market favours retrospective over forward-looking approach to Ibor benchmark fallbacks, says Isda
New benchmark fallbacks for derivatives contracts that reference interbank offered rates are likely to be based on the “compounded setting in arrears rate” and the “historical mean/median approach to the spread adjustment”, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association has said

Past returns: Citi kickstarts CSO market
Five years ago in Creditflux, we reported on the revival of the synthetic CDO market, with Citi leading the push

DTCC begins test phase for blockchain credit derivatives platform
15 of the world’s largest banks have begun testing the blockchain-based credit derivatives platform by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation

CLO baskets empty as Sears declares bankruptcy
Although Sears has been a prevalent name in loan trading over the years, it had been cleared from most CLO portfolios well before the event

Isda and Linklaters roll out test version of initial margin docs service
Five and a half months of partnership between the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and Linklaters has borne fruit, with the launch of a test version of an online tool that will allow firms to electronically negotiate and execute initial margin (IM) documentation

CFTC to loosen cross-border rules for swaps
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is looking to ease its cross-border swaps regulation

IHS Markit launches derivatives initial margin calculator
IHS Markit has launched an Initial Market Calculation Service to help market participants prepare to meet regulatory requirements for non-cleared derivatives trades across credit, commodities, equities, FX and interest rates

Central clearer resource concentration puts systemic risk in spotlight
A joint study by regulators has revealed that default resources are increasingly concentrated in just two central counterparties

Pension fund set to vote on rescinding York credit commitment and cutting Tricadia
The investment committee at San Bernardino County Employees’ Retirement Association has recommended that the pension fund rescind its commitment to a structured credit fund managed by York Capital Management, and terminate its relationship with multi-strategy credit manager Tricadia Capital Management

Tracking down the credit industry’s original winners
All winning managers at the first Creditflux awards survived the crisis, under their own names – like BlackRock – or under new owners. But what happened to the people who collected the trophies?
 

Dedication pays off in risk sharing
Fund managers are pitching dedicated CRT funds to institutional investors as market hits €75 billion in 2017 and US banks start to take notice. By Sayed Kadiri

Synthetic CDOs seek to follow CLOs
Growing issuance, interest in longer maturities and the emergence of a secondary market are encouraging dealers to believe that bespokes are on the road to acceptance. By Sayed Kadiri

Structured credit specialist swaps CSOs for CLOs as he returns to Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley has added to its CLO structuring team in New York, bringing an official who has been working on synthetic CDOs

Managers predict skill will win out
We asked managers to predict the year ahead across a range of credit strategies. Overall, they had a positive outlook. By Grace Jennings-Edquist