The Impact Of Central Clearing On The Market For Single-Name Credit Default Swaps

In this article, we revisit the impact of the voluntary central clearing scheme on the CDS market. In order to address the endogeneity problem, we use a robust methodology that relies on dynamic propensity-score matching combined with generalized difference-in-differences. Our empirical findings show that central clearing results in a small increase in CDS spreads (ranging from 14 to 19 bps), while there is no evidence of an associated improvement in CDS market liquidity and trading activity or of a deterioration in the default risk of the underlying bond. These results suggest that the increase in CDS spreads can be mainly attributed to a reduction in CDS counterparty risk.