“As Italian and Spanish sovereign borrowing costs shoot higher, corporate credit default swaps (CDS) have remained remarkably high.

CDS is essentially insurance on a security that pays in the event of a default.

Business Insider analyzed CDS prices on more than 100 publicly traded banks across the U.S., Europe, Middle East, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.

What we found: for at least 14 banks, the cost to insure debt remains above 500 basis points..”
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