Beyond the bond

As the credit derivatives market becomes more complex, investors are uncovering new opportunities for boosting returns. One such opportunity, explains Tim Backshall , involves exploiting differences between the cash bond and derivatives markets

David Hinman, executive vice president of Pimco, told this year’s annual meeting of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association that his firm plans to more than double the size of its credit derivatives portfolio to almost a quarter of its $70 billion fixed-income holdings.

So what exactly is the attraction of credit derivatives to the operator of the world’s largest bond fund? Like an increasing number of investors, Pimco is looking beyond bonds to credit default swaps (CDSs) and equity