A copula approach to credit valuation adjustment for swaps under wrong-way risk

Abstract

This paper deals with the credit valuation adjustment (CVA) of interest rate swap (IRS) contracts in the presence of an adverse dependence between the default time and interest rates: so-called wrong-way risk (WWR). It compares the upper Frechet bound approach introduced in a 2013 paper by Umberto Cherubini with a new semi-analytical IRS–CVA formula that we are proposing as a modification of Cherubini’s approach. The approaches are compared via a numerical study, in which we find that our semianalytical formula (the modified approach) provides more precise IRS–CVA valuation results.