ERNs Rather Than CoCos?

The Economist reports about a proposal by Jeremy Bulow and Paul Klemperer for equity recourse notes (ERNs) that could bolster a bank’s equity after negative shocks. While contingent convertible bonds (CoCos) are converted into equity when bank capital falls below a defined threshold, ERNs would convert when the share price fell below a trigger price. Moreover, the new shares would be valued at the trigger price even if the share price had fallen much lower. Low share prices thus would trigger both a conversion and a partial default.