Banks, the J.P. Morgan Credit Default Swap and some thoughts on Noble

In 1994, Exxon faced the threat of $5 billion in punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
J.P. Morgan had to refinance $4.8 billion credit line and the deal would tie up a lot of reserve cash to provide for the risk of the loans going bad.

However the Bank, was reluctant to turn down Exxon which was an old client.