August 13, 2012

Here’s some corporate activism that doesn’t induce nausea:

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman said he will campaign later this year for a cut in U.S. government debt because the issue affects customers of the largest maker of construction and mining machinery.

“It’s starting to hold us back,” Oberhelman said in an interview yesterday with Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart” at the company’s demonstration and learning center in Edwards, Illinois. “For the contractor base and customers in this country, it’s worrisome. It has a chill in the air.”

Customers of Caterpillar are “scared to death” that tax rates will rise as public expenditure stalls, he said. Higher taxes and cuts in spending on government programs amounting to $607 billion as measured by the Congressional Budget Office will take effect at year-end without congressional action.

In a continuation of the insane stampede towards central counterparties and single-point failure BIS has proposed:

Where a bank acts as a clearing member of a CCP for its own purposes, a risk weight of 2% must be applied to the bank’s trade exposure to the CCP in respect of OTC derivatives, exchange traded derivative transactions and SFTs. Where the clearing member offers clearing services to clients, the 2% risk weight also applies to the clearing member’s trade exposure to the CCP that arises when the clearing member is obligated to reimburse the client for any losses suffered due to changes in the value of its transactions in the event that the CCP defaults

Capital is charged harshly … but subject to a cap!

Clearing member banks may apply a risk-weight of 1250% to its default fund exposures to the CCP, subject to an overall cap on the risk-weighted assets from all its exposures to the CCP (ie including trade exposures) equal to 20% times the trade exposures to the CCP. More specifically, under this approach, the Risk Weighted Assets (RWA) for both bank i’s trade and default fund exposures to each CCP are equal to:16
Min {(2% * TEi + 1250% * DFi); (20% * TEi)}
where
• TEi is bank i’s trade exposure to the CCP, as measured by the bank according to paragraphs 110 to 112 of this Annex; and
• DFi is bank i’s pre-funded contribution to the CCP’s default fund.

When calculating the required capital of the CCP, its exposures are risk-weighted at 20%, a figure which is far too low. Interconnectedness of banks should be discouraged through the capital rules, not encouraged! Note that under Canadian rules:

  • the risk weight of bank exposure is dependent upon the credit quality of the sovereign (i.e., an implicit assumption of cross-border state aid)
  • The highest rank for sovereigns is the AA- to AAA category
  • The risk weight for exposure banks domiciled in these credit-worthy sovereigns is 20%
  • The credit quality scale for these exposures is the same as for corporates

So in other words, if a bank has a choice between lending to a non-financial company or another bank, the risk weighting will generally favour the bank loan, because then they can use the sovereign’s creditworthiness rather than that of the actual borrowing entity. Am I the only person in the world who thinks this is nuts?

It was a mildly positive day for the Canadian preferred share market, with PerpetualPremiums winning 7bp, FixedResets up 6bp and DeemedRetractibles gaining 4bp. Volatility was minimal. There were a few pockets of volume … but basically? Yech.

HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices
These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices

Values are provisional and are finalized monthly
Index Mean
Current
Yield
(at bid)
Median
YTW
Median
Average
Trading
Value
Median
Mod Dur
(YTW)
Issues Day’s Perf. Index Value
Ratchet 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0797 % 2,319.2
FixedFloater 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0797 % 3,469.4
Floater 3.14 % 3.19 % 65,443 19.23 3 0.0797 % 2,504.2
OpRet 4.76 % 2.35 % 34,764 0.86 5 0.0307 % 2,535.3
SplitShare 5.46 % 5.03 % 65,187 4.62 3 0.1196 % 2,773.0
Interest-Bearing 0.00 % 0.00 % 0 0.00 0 0.0307 % 2,318.3
Perpetual-Premium 5.30 % 4.08 % 102,430 1.13 28 0.0708 % 2,273.2
Perpetual-Discount 4.98 % 4.99 % 97,301 15.46 3 0.1259 % 2,512.4
FixedReset 4.99 % 3.01 % 176,015 4.11 71 0.0607 % 2,423.6
Deemed-Retractible 4.95 % 3.38 % 134,994 1.32 46 0.0366 % 2,354.3
Performance Highlights
Issue Index Change Notes
POW.PR.G Perpetual-Premium 1.07 % YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2021-04-15
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.57
Bid-YTW : 4.80 %
Volume Highlights
Issue Index Shares
Traded
Notes
SLF.PR.F FixedReset 200,450 National crossed six blocks: 75,000 shares, 35,000 shares, 40,000 shares, 20,000 and two of 10,000 each, all at 26.23.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2014-06-30
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.23
Bid-YTW : 3.70 %
NA.PR.L Deemed-Retractible 160,983 Desjardins crossed 160,000 at 25.65.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-09-12
Maturity Price : 25.50
Evaluated at bid price : 25.63
Bid-YTW : -1.75 %
SLF.PR.G FixedReset 145,231 National crossed blocks of 13,100 shares, 61,800 shares, 42,000 and 21,300, all at 24.83.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 24.88
Bid-YTW : 3.40 %
BNS.PR.Q FixedReset 137,526 Desjardins crossed 108,200 at 25.40.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.36
Bid-YTW : 3.18 %
TD.PR.O Deemed-Retractible 52,729 TD crossed 50,000 at 25.98.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-10-31
Maturity Price : 25.50
Evaluated at bid price : 25.94
Bid-YTW : -2.39 %
MFC.PR.F FixedReset 39,392 Scotia crossed 14,800 and 16,700, both at 23.90.
YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Hard Maturity
Maturity Date : 2022-01-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 23.85
Bid-YTW : 4.08 %
There were 14 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares.
Wide Spread Highlights
Issue Index Quote Data and Yield Notes
ENB.PR.A Perpetual-Premium Quote: 25.73 – 25.99
Spot Rate : 0.2600
Average : 0.1618

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-09-12
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.73
Bid-YTW : -30.44 %

TD.PR.R Deemed-Retractible Quote: 26.83 – 27.10
Spot Rate : 0.2700
Average : 0.1803

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-04-30
Maturity Price : 26.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.83
Bid-YTW : 1.10 %

IAG.PR.C FixedReset Quote: 26.28 – 26.64
Spot Rate : 0.3600
Average : 0.2778

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-12-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.28
Bid-YTW : 2.97 %

SLF.PR.I FixedReset Quote: 25.65 – 25.90
Spot Rate : 0.2500
Average : 0.1720

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2016-12-31
Maturity Price : 25.00
Evaluated at bid price : 25.65
Bid-YTW : 3.75 %

FTS.PR.C OpRet Quote: 25.74 – 25.99
Spot Rate : 0.2500
Average : 0.1785

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2012-09-12
Maturity Price : 25.25
Evaluated at bid price : 25.74
Bid-YTW : -5.09 %

TD.PR.Q Deemed-Retractible Quote: 26.70 – 26.89
Spot Rate : 0.1900
Average : 0.1222

YTW SCENARIO
Maturity Type : Call
Maturity Date : 2013-01-31
Maturity Price : 26.00
Evaluated at bid price : 26.70
Bid-YTW : 0.02 %

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