Verizon helps Barclays avoid large derivatives losses in March turmoil

摘要

Barclays avoided significant derivatives-related losses in the first quarter of 2020 through rejigging its derivatives exposures with telecommunications giant Verizon, one of its largest corporate swaps clients, according to sources familiar with the matter. Those trades, some of which may have involved a circular movement of money between the two companies, could have saved the UK lender as much as US$100m, experts estimate. Verizon took the unusual step of posting US$1.3bn of collateral against derivatives trades in the first quarter of the year, public filings show. The US company borrowed the same amount of money - US$1.3bn - from an asset-backed bank loan facility in March, in what experts say was probably a carefully coordinated set of transactions.