"Worst trade of all time" pits Santander against Portuguese client
Dealers settled a crop of disputed derivatives trades with Portuguese state-owned entities last year, with one exception – Santander is set for a court battle with the country’s state-backed rail operator, over a trade that critics describe as “nonsensical”. Tom Osborn reports
"This is a contender for the worst trade of all time,” says one London-based corporate hedging adviser. It sounds harsh until you look at the numbers.
The counterparty stuck on the wrong end of the trade is Portuguese state-backed rail operator Metro do Porto (MdP), which entered into the €89 million amortising fixed-for-floating interest rate swap in 2007. Halfway through the contract’s life, the
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@risk.net or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.risk.net/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@risk.net
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@risk.net
More on Risk management
One Trading brings 24/7 equity trading to Europe
Start-up exchange will launch perpetual futures Clob in Q1 after AFM nod
Credit spread risk: the cryptic peril on bank balance sheets
Some bankers fear EU regulatory push on CSRBB has done little to improve risk management
Top 10 investment risks for 2026
AI, strained governments, inflated private assets: risky bets have become hard to avoid
Risk managers question US reach of Dora third-party list
Some EU subsidiaries included, but regulator control over cloud providers could still be limited
Review of 2025: It’s the end of the world, and it feels fine
Markets proved resilient as Trump redefined US policies – but questions are piling up about 2026 and beyond
One in five banks targets a 30-day liquidity survival horizon
ALM Benchmarking research finds wide divergence in liquidity risk appetites, even among large lenders
BofA urges horizontal CCP fix after CME outage, others demur
Analysts say clearing meltdown bolsters case for futures-for-futures exchange with FMX
Bank ALM tech still dominated by manual workflows
Batch processing and Excel files still pervade, with only one in four lenders planning tech upgrades
