Actually it looks like this may be a rather large crisis in the making..
So Much For
Orderly Default In Greece, New Haircuts Likely To Trigger CDS
The latest discussions in Europe are signaling steeper Greek debt cuts than the 21% previously on the table, prompting analysts at Nomura to
release a note Wednesday warning that a disorderly default is now the most likely scenario, and will trigger payouts on credit default swaps
(CDS).
Those triggers will come from the likelihood that larger haircuts – reports Monday suggested 50 cents on the euro with bondholders getting €15
in cash and €35 in new 30-year, 6% coupon paper for every €100 in Greek debt – will be involuntary. On Greek debt alone the impact is
manageable, as Nomura estimates just €50 billion in total losses, “but the impact through rising risk premia in other Eurozone bond markets
could be significant,” according to strategists Jens Nordvig, Lefteris Farmakis and Dimitris Drakopoulos.
It's also being estimated that Greek pensions will take most of the hit, regardless a 50 billion euro hit to the private bank sector, if triggering a
CDS payout will result in hundreds of billions in losses. And gains of course.
So what actually would pull the trigger on the derivative disaster of 2011?
Banks to Define Greek Bond Default
"It all depends on the facts, but on the straight reading of the clause, if this doesn't bind all of a reference obligation's bondholders then
it's not a restructuring credit event,"
The key word being used by the ECB is "Voluntary" .. apparently in the actual CDS contracts the wording is a voluntary restructuring of the debt
(haircut) will not trigger a payout.
But.. if the banks determine that they really don't have much of a choice, and decide to look after shareholders over the ECB, the trigger will
occur. Because if the banks simply decide not to take the write down (and who would?) Greece defaults anyways.. Citibank alone, an American bank, is
expecting as much as a 60% haircut based on the amount and types of bonds it holds. Then there is the matter that almost all of the bonds, or at
least the other 50% left over, get rolled into a moderate yielding 30 year bond. So you loose 50% of the capital on debt that was paying 98% (1year
notes) into a 30 year at 6%.
I'll take the CDS payout please.
For poor Greek banks it won't even matter.. a loss of 50% on it's massive holdings of Greek debt will instantly push every major bank into
insolvency. So the ECB will need to bail them out with their little "capital buffer" plan. By the way, if you're Greek ... you might want to get
your money out of the bank.. fast..
Total loss for all banks is supposed to be around $103 billion dollars.
There are 206 billion euros of Greek government bonds in private sector hands, so a 50 percent haircut would see banks take a 103 billion hit.
Greek companies hold an estimated 80 billion euros, including 45-50 billion by its banks. Those banks hurt by the haircut could need about 30 billion
euros of capital from the state to shore them up as part of a recapitalization plan alongside the Greek debt talks, reducing the net benefit to Greece
to nearer 70 billion euros. The private sector agreed in July to take a mere 21 percent loss on their holdings of Greek debt, but the outlook has
since deteriorated and they have been told they need to take a bigger loss to put Greece on a more sustainable path. [6]