Publications

March 2009 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Washington Mutual's Covered Bonds

By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Robin Greenwood and James Quinn

Washington Mutual issued 6 billion euro of covered bonds in 2006. The objective of the case is to ask whether these bonds are mispriced in late 2008. The case is set in September 2008, and Washington Mutual is facing considerable distress due to mounting losses in its... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Mortgages; Price; Banking Industry; United States

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Dowdy Savings Bond

months. Marketing for the program was also eliminated. While all banks sell bonds, the $.50 to $.85 they earn for each transaction gives them little financial incentive to make the process easy for consumers. Finally, the Treasury's... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

2007
Chapter

Legal Origin vs. the Politics of Creditor Rights: Bond Markets in Brazil, 1850-2002

By: Aldo Musacchio

This paper explores the question: Do institutions persist over time and determine current economic outcomes? Specifically, does the adoption or inheritance of a legal tradition in the past determine the subsequent course of institutional and financial development? This... View Details

Keywords: History; Rights; Common Law; Code Law; Financial Markets; Credit; Economy; Government and Politics; Financial Services Industry

Research Summary

What Makes the Bonding Stick? A Natural Experiment Testing the Legal Bonding Hypothesis

On March 29, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled its intention to geographically limit the reach of the U.S. securities antifraud regime and thus differentially exclude U.S.-listed foreign firms from the ambit of formal U.S. antifraud enforcement. We use this legal... View Details

Keywords: Securities Litigation; Corporate Governance

04 Mar 2025
News

Harvard Re-Enters Debt Market With $450 Million Bond Sale

September 2004 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Catastrophe Bonds at Swiss Re

In 2002, Swiss Re, the world's second--largest insurance company, is considering securitizing parts of its risk portfolio in the capital markets. This would be a first for the company that, until then, had never transferred risk off its balance sheet. Peter Giessmann,... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Bonds; Natural Disasters; Insurance; Capital Markets; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Insurance Industry; Switzerland

January 1994
Exercise

Walt Disney Company's Sleeping Beauty Bonds

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Walt Disney Co. issues a 100-year bond. This case describes the terms of the bond and immediate capital market reaction. View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Cash Flow; Debt Securities; Bonds; Interest Rates; Value

September 2004 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Bank Leu's Prima Cat Bond Fund

In 2001, Bank Leu, a Swiss private bank, is considering creating the world's first public fund for catastrophe bonds. Cat bonds are securities whose payments depend on the probability of a catastrophe occurring, such as an earthquake or hurricane. Cat bonds are... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Bonds; Natural Disasters; Insurance; Capital Markets; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Insurance Industry; Switzerland

June 2013
Article

Issuer Quality and Corporate Bond Returns

By: Robin Greenwood and Samuel G. Hanson

We show that the credit quality of corporate debt issuers deteriorates during credit booms, and that this deterioration forecasts low excess returns to corporate bondholders. The key insight is that changes in the pricing of credit risk disproportionately affect the... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Bonds; Forecasting and Prediction; Credit

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July 2006
Case

Citigroup: Euro Zone Bond Trading (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Christopher Bruner and Aldo Sesia

Describes the development and execution of a bond trading strategy by a London-based team of Citigroup eurozone bond traders. The trades, which involved two of Europe's leading electronic trading platforms, gave rise to a European-wide controversy over the traders'... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Financial Markets; Bonds; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Decision Making; Lawfulness; Business Strategy; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Europe

How do monetary policy rules, monetary policy uncertainty, and macroeconomic shocks affect the risk properties of US Treasury bonds? The exposure of US Treasury bonds to the stock market has moved considerably over time. While it was slightly positive on average... View Details

January 1993 (Revised June 1995)
Case

Arbitrage in the Government Bond Market?

Documents a pricing anomaly in the large and liquid treasury bond market. The prices of callable treasury bonds seem to be inconsistent with the prices of noncallable treasuries and an arbitrage opportunity appears to exist. Permits instructors to introduce the... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Price; Valuation; Capital Markets

Fast Answer

Corporate bond ratings

Select Insert Formula from the shortcut menu. Type the desired company or cell reference in the Identifier field. Select the Market Data tab. Click the plus sign (+) to expand the S&P Credit Ratings folder in the pick list. Select... View Details

2012
Working Paper

Issuer Quality and Corporate Bond Returns

By: Robin Greenwood and Samuel G. Hanson

We show that the credit quality of corporate debt issuers deteriorates during credit booms, and that this deterioration forecasts low excess returns to corporate bondholders. The key insight is that changes in the pricing of credit risk disproportionately affect the... View Details

Keywords: Price; Credit; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Return; Forecasting and Prediction; Bonds; Market Design; Cost of Capital; Mathematical Methods; System Shocks

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March 2006
Case

Wells Fargo Convertible Bonds

By: Malcolm P. Baker and Elizabeth Kind

Howard Atkins, the chief financial officer of Wells Fargo, is considering issuing $3 billion in convertible debt. With an investment-grade credit rating, Wells Fargo is not the typical issuer of convertible securities, but the market conditions in 2003 are unusual.... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Financial Institutions; Banks and Banking; Debt Securities; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Strategy; Banking Industry

21 Apr 2010
News

A better fail-safe than CoCo bonds

March 2008
Article

Can Civil Law Countries Get Good Institutions? Lessons from the History of Creditor Rights and Bond Markets in Brazil

By: Aldo Musacchio

Does a legal tradition adopted in the distant past constrain a country's ability to provide the protection that investors need for financial markets to develop? This paper contributes to the literature that studies the connection between law and finance by looking at... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Financial Markets; Investment; Code Law; Contracts; Law Enforcement; Size; Brazil