Credit derivatives bankers expressed relief on Monday at the success of Friday’s auction to set a price for the bonds of Delphi, the bankrupt US car parts maker. But it remained uncertain whether a template had yet been found for dealing with future defaults.

The process was put in place to allow thousands of credit derivative contracts to be settled with cash rather than by handing over actual bonds, as would normally be required. Although parts of the auction method had been tried before, Delphi’s widespread popularity as a “reference entity” in credit derivative transactions made this a more substantial test for the industry than any previous default.