Ex-WestLB financial engineering head launches consultancy

Janet Tavakoli, former head of capital markets financial engineering at Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) in London, has launched a derivatives consultancy - Tavakoli Structured Finance.

Following her departure from WestLB in July 2002, Tavakoli has recently returned to her native Chicago to launch the firm. The consultancy specialises in advising investors and other clients on complex over-the-counter transactions, including synthetic collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).

Tavakoli told RiskNews that after leaving the German bank she initially had two consulting proposals. “Since then, I've garnered two additional large institutional clients: one is New York-based, and the other is based in Europe,” she said.

Her current consultancy work is focused on valuation and hedging of CDOs for audit, accounting, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance for both mark-to-market, and non mark-to-market books. “Super-seniors and equity are especially problematic due to non-standardisation of structures, lack of transparent market pricing and the rash of recent CDO downgrades,” she said.

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 copy this content. Please contact info@risk.net to find out more.

You need to sign in to use this feature. If you don’t have a Risk.net account, please register for a trial.

Sign in
You are currently on corporate access.

To use this feature you will need an individual account. If you have one already please sign in.

Sign in.

Alternatively you can request an individual account here