Publications

March 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Morgan Stanley and TRAC-X: The Battle for the CDS Indexes Market

Morgan Stanley's credit derivatives business, specifically its collateralized debt obligation (CDO) business, has been hugely successful. One of its leading offerings is the TRAC-X product, jointly created and marketed by Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan. However, a new... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Product; Competition; Capital Markets; Financial Services Industry

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January 2008
Background Note

Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs)

By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford

This lesson integrated Merton's (1974) contingent claims model of debt and equity claims with the CAPM, which allows us to examine the risks and pricing of credit portfolios and the derivative claims issued against them. In particular, this model is used to make... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

20 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 20, 2018

that adjustments grow more stringent and accurate in the months leading up to default and better predict lender default recovery rates. Download working paper:... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

29 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 29, 2007

focus exclusively on estimates of expected payoffs, such as credit ratings, without considering the state of the economy in which default is likely to occur. Such investors are likely to be attracted to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 5, 2010

Affect Credit Ratings? Authors:Bo Becker and Todd Milbourn Abstract The credit rating industry has historically been dominated by just two agencies, Moody's and S&P, leading to longstanding legislative... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Jan 2009
Research & Ideas

Risky Business with Structured Finance

mispriced," Coval remarks. "But we didn't have any sense that it would all come crashing down the way it did—we just thought that the mispricing would be corrected gradually." Stafford adds that neither he nor Coval had done much work in the area of... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

dollar lending more than euro lending in response to a shock to their credit quality. Because these banks rely on wholesale dollar funding, while raising more of their euro funding through insured retail deposits, the shock leads to a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2025
Working Paper

Precautionary Debt Capacity

By: Deniz Aydin and Olivia S. Kim

The determinants of debt capacity are a central theme in finance and macroeconomics, yet it remains unclear why firms leave some of their debt capacity unused and whether this affects investment and growth. Textbook theory suggests that firms should not leave their... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Financing and Loans

SSRN

29 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 29, 2019

endowments, mergers, and limited liability. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55499 January 2019 Health Affairs Decreases In Readmissions Credited to Medicare's Program to Reduce Hospital Readmissions Have... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Banque Paribas: Paribas Derives Garantis

In March 1993, the management of Paribas Capital Markets is making a final review of the proposal to set up Paribas Derives Garantis (PDG), a special-purpose subsidiary of Compagnie Financiere de Paribas (CFP), that would guarantee derivative products offered by Banque... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Business Subsidiaries; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry

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October 1994
Case

Bankers Trust: Global Investment Bank

By: Andre F. Perold and Kuljot Singh

In October 1992, Eugene Shanks, president of Bankers Trust New York Corp., and Brian Walsh, head of the Global Investment Bank (GIB) business unit, are considering a proposal for a large and complex financing involving the North Sea Oil Co. (NSOC). The financing... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk Management; Value Creation; Business History; Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Financial Markets; Corporate Finance; Banking Industry; Energy Industry

January 2025
Supplement

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (B)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe

January 2025
Case

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (A)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe

January 2013 (Revised April 2017)
Supplement

Maxum Petroleum, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester

Maxum seeks an oil-price hedging strategy that yields substantial cash during oil price spikes, is affordable under ordinary circumstances, and is easily managed. It is striving to avoid a repeat of the challenging situation encountered in 2008 when spiking oil prices... View Details

Keywords: Hedging; Options; Commodities; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Financial Strategy; Volatility