After rating agencies declared Venezuela in selective default and after a meeting with creditors on debt restructuring failed earlier this week, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA)—a finance industry body—has voted that both Venezuela and its state oil firm PDVSA had defaulted on their debt payments. The vote by the New York-based industry group will trigger payouts on debt default insurance on its bonds, the so-called credit default swaps (CDS) that investors use to protect against defaults. In a unanimous 15-0 vote, the members of ISDA’s Americas Determinations Committee voted on Thursday that “a failure to pay credit event occurred with respect to Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.” The members of the committee—which includes Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and Credit Suisse, among others—decided to meet again on Monday, November 20, to continue discussions on how to proceed and discuss an auction that is expected to determine the […]