Below are key European banking risk monitors, which are included as part of Josh Steiner and the Financial team's "Monday Morning Risk Monitor". If you'd like to receive the work of the Financials team or request a trial please email .
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European Financial CDS - Russia's megabank, Sberbank, saw its recent trend of tightening swaps come to an end, with a 17 bps increase last week to 224 bps. Sberbank swaps effectively reflect Brent crude oil prices. Bank swaps followed the lead of respective sovereign swaps, for the most part, with Spanish and Portuguese swaps tightening noticeably. UK bank swaps also tightened last week by an average of 7 bps.
Sovereign CDS – Sovereign swaps were tighter across the board last week, led by Portugal (-53 bps), Spain (-19 bps) and Italy (-16 bps). The U.S., Germany and Japan were all tighter by 1-2 bps as well.
Euribor-OIS Spread – The Euribor-OIS spread widened by 1 bps to 12 bps. The Euribor-OIS spread (the difference between the euro interbank lending rate and overnight indexed swaps) measures bank counterparty risk in the Eurozone. The OIS is analogous to the effective Fed Funds rate in the United States. Banks lending at the OIS do not swap principal, so counterparty risk in the OIS is minimal. By contrast, the Euribor rate is the rate offered for unsecured interbank lending. Thus, the spread between the two isolates counterparty risk.
ECB Liquidity Recourse to the Deposit Facility – Deposits were essentially unchanged last week. The ECB Liquidity Recourse to the Deposit Facility measures banks’ overnight deposits with the ECB. Taken in conjunction with excess reserves, the ECB deposit facility measures excess liquidity in the Euro banking system. An increase in this metric shows that banks are borrowing from the ECB. In other words, the deposit facility measures one element of the ECB response to the crisis.
