Monolines: Beyond protection

The monolines should survive this crisis, but only because the prospect of them being downgraded is an outcome too far for the battered credit market.


“These firms have moved into
higher yielding markets, and
that structured exposure has
recently focused on CDOs. But
is it enough to render their
guarantees worthless?”






It is becoming increasingly difficult to be surprised by some of the illogical fallout from the credit crisis. But when wrapped triple-A bonds (with a double-A underlying) start to trade outside unwrapped double-A bonds for the same name, it really does seem that all reason has departed. This is what happened in November, when the Ambac-wrapped triple-A bonds issued by BT’s Telereal vehicle were trading wider than its unwrapped double-A bonds.

Access intelligence that drives action

To unlock this research, enter your email to log in or enquire about access