Credit risk securitisation permits to transfer credit default risk of bank loan portfolios to capital market investors. Both market sides realise distinct benefits: Seen from a sell-side perspective, securitisation is a powerful tool for credit risk mitigation recognised by the supervisory authorities. Seen from a buy-side perspective, investors gain exposure to portfolio credit risk by acquiring tailor-made notes, designed to meet their individual risk preferences. Being a novel investment, price discovery for issued notes is an intriguing issue.

Antje Schirm develops a pricing model for credit risk securitisation, explaining fair note issuance pricing by the underlying credit portfolio risk. This contribution resolves the two key issues on the research agenda from a strongly empirical perspective: Firstly, the underlying credit portfolio risk is modelled in a market context. This allows for model estimation using prices of traded credit-risky securities. Secondly, observed payout mechanisms of securitisation structures are translated into a derivatives pricing context. Both building blocks together permit a comparison of fair model prices to issuance prices observed in the young securitisation market, such that discrepancies are uncovered.

Dr. Antje Schirm ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin von Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Bühler am Center for Doctoral Studies in Economics and Management (CDSEM) und am Lehrstuhl für Finanzierung der Universität Mannheim.