Word: stratas
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...comes the messy part. Bank of America used Strata's collateral as the backing against which it could write credit default swaps (CDS), that is, insurance contracts based on whether some other bonds get paid back. As a writer, or seller, of CDS contracts, Strata investors get a regular fee, much like a annual amount any insurance holder would pay, for guaranteeing the buyer of the insurance against losses on the bonds. All told, Bank of America wrote CDS contracts worth $20 million based on the debts of as many as 75 companies. Add the fees from the insurance contracts...
...Here's the catch: If the bonds Strata insured against go bad, Strata is on the hook for the losses. And in a twist on regular insurance, the buyer of a CDS contract [i.e., the insured] doesn't actually have to own the bond. If the bond goes belly up, they get paid as if they had, pocketing the insurance payout as a profit, which of course would be a loss for the owners of Strata...
...wait, there's more. Unlike other CDOs, Strata is a so-called single tranche CDO. Most CDOs own hundreds of millions of dollars of loans. Those loans are pooled together and then various bonds are sold based on the portfolio. But all the bonds are not the same. They are stacked based on risk. The highest tranche bond gets paid its dividends based on the first loan payments that come in the door. Bonds at the bottom of the stack get paid last, which means those investments are wiped out first if borrowers fail to pay back their loans. Those...
...Strata's case there is no stack. Instead, BofA imagined it had invested $1 billion in the bonds of 75 different companies, and then pretended that Strata wrote insurance against a $20 billion slice. BofA bankers placed Strata toward the bottom, in order to justify its relatively high yield...
...understand how this works, think of Strata as a car insurance policy with a deductible. And then imagine you just had the worst wreck of your life while driving your diamond-encrusted Rolls Royce. The first $130 million in losses from the accident is your deductible. You are covered for the next $20 million in losses. The next $850 million comes out of your pocket again. (See pictures of expensive things that money...