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CoCos, Bail-in, and Tail Risk

Author

Listed:
  • Nan Chen

    (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

  • Paul Glasserman

    (Office of Financial Research)

  • Behzad Nouri

    (Columbia University)

  • Markus Pelger

    (University of California, Berkeley)

Abstract

Contingent convertibles (CoCos) and bail-in debt for banks have been proposed as potential mechanisms to enhance financial stability. They function by converting to equity when a bank approaches insolvency. We develop a capital structure model to analyze the incentives created by these forms of contingent capital. Our formulation includes firm-specific and market-wide tail risk in the form of two types of jumps and leads to a tractable jump diffusion model of the firm's income and asset value. The firm's liabilities include insured deposits and senior and subordinated debt, as well as convertible debt. Our model combines endogenous default, debt rollover, and jumps; these features are essential in examining how changes in capital structure to include CoCos or bail-in debt change incentives for equity holders. We derive closed-form expressions to value the firm and its liabilities, and we use these to investigate how CoCos affect debt overhang, asset substitution, the firm's ability to absorb losses, the sensitivity of equity holders to various types of risk, and how these properties interact with the firm's debt maturity profile, the tax treatment of CoCo coupons, and the pricing of deposit insurance. We examine the effects of varying the two main design features of CoCos, the conversion trigger and the conversion ratio, and we compare the effects of CoCos with the effects of reduced bankruptcy costs through orderly resolution. Across a wide set of considerations, we find that CoCos generally have positive incentive effects when the conversion trigger is not set too low. The need to roll over debt, the debt tax shield, and tail risk in the firm's income and asset value have particular impact on the effects of CoCos. We also identify a phenomenon of debt-induced collapse that occurs when a firm issues CoCos and then takes on excessive additional debt: the added debt burden can induce equity holders to raise their default barrier above the conversion trigger, effectively changing CoCos to junior straight debt; equity value experiences a sudden drop at the point at which this occurs. Finally, we calibrate the model to past data on the largest U.S. bank holding companies to see what impact CoCos might have had on the financial crisis. We use the calibration to gauge the increase in loss absorbing capacity and the reduction in debt overhang costs resulting from CoCos. We also time approximate conversion dates for high and low conversion triggers.

Suggested Citation

  • Nan Chen & Paul Glasserman & Behzad Nouri & Markus Pelger, 2013. "CoCos, Bail-in, and Tail Risk," Working Papers 13-01, Office of Financial Research, US Department of the Treasury.
  • Handle: RePEc:ofr:wpaper:13-01
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. van Wijnbergen, Sweder & Chan, Stephanie, 2016. "CoCo Design, Risk Shifting and Financial Fragility," CEPR Discussion Papers 11099, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    4. Delphine Boursicot & Geneviève Gauthier & Farhad Pourkalbassi, 2019. "Contingent Convertible Debt: The Impact on Equity Holders," Risks, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-35, April.
    5. Ma, Chang & Nguyen, Xuan-Hai, 2021. "Too big to fail and optimal regulation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 747-758.
    6. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Kang, Woo-Young, 2021. "On the preferences of CoCo bond buyers and sellers," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Stephanie Chan & Sweder van Wijnbergen, 2016. "Coco Design, Risk Shifting Incentives and Capital Regulation," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 16-007/VI, Tinbergen Institute, revised 13 Nov 2017.
    8. Helberg, Stig & Lindset, Snorre, 2014. "How do asset encumbrance and debt regulations affect bank capital and bond risk?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 39-54.
    9. Martynova, Natalya & Perotti, Enrico, 2018. "Convertible bonds and bank risk-taking," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 35(PB), pages 61-80.
    10. Fatouh, Mahmoud & McMunn, Ayowande, 2019. "Shareholder risk-taking incentives in the presence of contingent capital," Bank of England working papers 775, Bank of England.

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