Distance-to-default is a remarkably robust measure for ranking firms according to their risk of default. The ranking seems to work despite the fact that the Merton model from which the measure is derived produces default probabilities that are far too small when applied to real data. We use...

Constant Proportion Debt Obligations (CPDOs) are structured credit derivatives indexed on a portfolio of investment grade debt, which generate high coupon payments by dynamically leveraging a position in an underlying portfolio of index default swaps. CPDO coupons and principal notes received...

In this paper the empirical performance of alternative models for barrier option valuation and risk management is studied. Five commonly used models are compared: the Black-Scholes model, the constant elasticity of variance model, the Heston stochastic volatility model, the Merton jump-diffusion...

This paper investigates the pricing of step-up bonds, i.e. corporate bonds with provisions stating that the coupon payments increase as the credit rating level of the issuer declines. To assess the risk-neutral rating transition probabilities necessary to price these bonds, we introduce a new...

We characterize when physical probabilities, marginal utilities, and the discount rate can be recovered from observed state prices for several future time periods. We make no assumptions of the probability distribution, thus generalizing the time-homogeneous stationary model of Ross (2015)....

Quanto CDS spreads are differences in CDS premiums of the same reference entity but in different currency denominations. Such spreads can arise in arbitrage-free models and depend on the risk of a jump in the exchange rate upon default of the underlying and the covariance between the exchange...

Additional Tier 1 (AT1) notes are perpetual, callable notes issued by banks to help meet their capital requirements. Banks almost always choose to call the notes at the first call date, even when issuing new notes is more expensive than keeping the old notes in place. We argue from a simple...

We show that cross-border financial linkages are priced in CDS markets. We construct a measure of the foreign exposure risk of a country's banking system based on the composition of its foreign exposures. Our measure helps explain CDS premia of banks. Implicit and explicit guarantees extended to...