Jean-David Fermanian, Olivier Vigneron
posted by Matúš Medo
(11 April 2012)
pdf
other
(56 views, 59 downloads, 0 comments )
We consider the pricing of European-style structured credit payoff in a
static framework, where the underlying default times are independent given a
common factor. A practical application would consist of the pricing of
nth-to-default baskets under the Gaussian copula model (GCM). We provide
necessary and sufficient conditions so that the corresponding asset prices are
martingales and introduce the concept of "break-even" correlation matrix. When
no sudden jump-to-default events occur, we show that the perfect replication of
these payoffs under the GCM is obtained if and only if the underlying single
name credit spreads follow a particular family of dynamics. We calculate the
corresponding break-even correlations and we exhibit a class of Merton-style
models that are consistent with this result. We explain why the GCM does not
have a lot of competitors among the class of one-period static models, except
perhaps the Clayton copula.
The Econophysics Forum
welcomes your comments