Barclays announced the launch of a new Global Contingent Capital Index,
a multi-currency benchmark measuring the performance of investment-grade
and high-yield contingent capital (“CoCo”) securities. This standalone
benchmark tracks the market of hybrid capital securities that do not
qualify for other flagship Barclays Aggregate, High-Yield, Capital
Securities, or Convertibles Indices.
“CoCo issuance has steadily grown in recent years and we anticipate
further expansion of this market as financial institutions issue these
bonds to help achieve required regulatory capital ratios,” said Brian
Upbin, Head of Benchmark Index Research at Barclays. “Though CoCos are
not eligible for broad-based bond indices such as the Global Aggregate,
there are debt investors who hold these securities as out-of-index
investments and need a benchmark of asset class risk and returns.”
The Barclays Global Contingent Capital Index includes hybrid capital
securities with explicit equity conversion or writedown loss absorption
mechanisms that are based on an issuer’s regulatory capital ratio or
other explicit solvency-based triggers. Subindices by currency, country,
credit quality, and capital security type are available as part of this
family. Bespoke credit and high-yield indices that include traditional
hybrid capital as well as contingent capital securities are also now
available with this expanded security coverage. The inception date of
this index is May 1, 2014, and the index universe contains 65 CoCo
issues with a market value of $98bn as of May 31, 2014.
This new index will be available on Barclays Live and fully supported on
the Barclays POINT® portfolio analytics platform. The index will also be
available through other data distribution platforms that offer Barclays
indices. Interactive Data Pricing and Reference Data, LLC is a provider
of pricing for this new index.
Barclays is an international financial services provider engaged in
personal banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking and
wealth management with an extensive presence in Europe, the Americas,
Africa and Asia. Barclays’ purpose is to help people achieve their
ambitions – in the right way. With over 300 years of history and
expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs
approximately 140,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and
protects money for customers and clients worldwide. For further
information about Barclays, please visit our website www.barclays.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2014