Equity default swaps traded in interbank market

Equity default swaps (EDS) on Asian names are being traded in the interbank market, with prices on a handful of Japanese and Asia ex-Japan EDS now being quoted on broker screens. However, volumes have been extremely thin so far, with only a handful of banks active in the market.

The emergence of an interbank market follows rising interest from investors, particularly in Japan, for tranched EDS products. A small but growing band of banks are marketing tranched EDS portfolios, known as equity