9 Credit Support in Financial Markets

Subject(s):

Guarantor — Bonds — Credit derivatives — Monetary obligations

This chapter brings together the numerous mechanisms and ideas that have the effect of supporting a payment obligation, in the sense that the use of one (or more) of these concepts makes it more likely that the obligation will be fulfilled. This objective can be achieved in a number of ways: a third party may accept liability alongside the obligor, as in the case of someone who assumes a joint liability; or the supporter may take a secondary role as a guarantor. The chapter then looks at the forms of support that are available on a commercial basis, in particular performance bonds and export credit facilities. It considers the mechanisms that provide support by a more indirect route, such as comfort letters and credit derivatives. It concludes by examining a form of support that reaches its destination from the opposite direction: subordination, both in the form of general subordination of the creditor to the claims of all other creditors, and as subordination to the claims of a particular creditor.