J.P. Morgan Opens Way For COVID Support With Key Bond Index Changes

“Once the rule goes into effect, debt instruments with credit enhancements in the form of (but not limited to) third-party guarantees from multilaterals, governments, banks, insurers, private creditors, etc. will be eligible for index inclusion, provided the extent of the guarantee is less than 50% of the debt obligation,” a J.P. Morgan note dated Sept 18 said.

The structures being discussed to help lesser developed countries cope with the economic fallout from the COVID crisis include multilateral guarantees on all or a portion of their bonds, or linking them to high quality sovereign collateral such as U.S. government bonds.

“The latter scenario offers many parallels to the circumstances dating back to the origin of the EM sovereign debt through Brady loans and the launch of the EMBI in the 1990s,” J.P. Morgan added.

J.P. Morgan also made a number of other changes, including keeping bonds in its indexes until six months before they mature rather than 13 months previously.