Derivatives
Safe enough for Sasac
Special Report - China: Corporate hedging
What's it worth?
The financial crisis has highlighted shortcomings in bank valuation practices for complex securities. With regulators clamouring for the use of independent prices, there could be an opportunity for third-party data providers. But are banks taking the…
Pricing and hedging of variable annuities
Technical papers
Joe Lovrics
Quite what kind of structured credit market will emerge from the ashes of the financial crisis is a matter for intense debate. The head of structured credit sales at BNP Paribas gives his views on the drivers for the market's future
Counting on the counterparty
High-profile banking failures have led to uncertainty over the ability of credit derivatives counterparties to honour their side of the trade. Contingent credit default swaps, or CCDS, are designed to mitigate this risk. But will plans for a central…
Doug Long
The business development head at structured finance software vendor Principia talks to Matthew Attwood about what it will take to restore investor appetite for structured products
Asia Risk interdealer survey 2008: Brokers
Interdealer brokers have performed a valuable job in highly volatile financial markets, where price discovery and the provision of liquidity has helped increasingly nervous clients to close trades. Georgina Lee reports
Asia Risk interdealer survey 2008: Dealers
Volatile markets have led to a shift towards more vanilla products in 2008. At the same time, fears about counterparty credit risks mounted, helping European and Asian banks perform particularly well in Asia Risk's 13th interdealer survey
Dangers of disintermediation
Editor's letter
EU convenes working party on derivatives
Daily news headlines
Collateral damage
The practice of posting collateral against the risk of failed derivatives trades may protect dealers from the worst of the losses arising from Lehman's bankruptcy, says Joseph Pimbley. But what about trades that were not covered by such collateral…
Sunk by correlation
Equity Derivatives
A fruitful time for hybrids
Structurers are coming up with novel ways of tapping investor demand for credit-linked products without the default risk associated with the previous generation of structured products. Their answer? Hybrids. Regis Benichou and Arnaud Scemama of Calyon…
Asian retail focus
The process of tempting Asian retail investors back to credit has been an uphill struggle for distributors, who have tried to stimulate interest with a series of structured first-to-default notes that give sovereign exposure. But heavy mark-to-market…
Structured credit's re-formation
The structured credit market has been blamed for much of the turmoil in credit and, by association, the wider global economy. But many market participants remain convinced that structured credit has a major role to play in the financial landscape of the…
Jeff Sprecher & Sunil Hirani
The chairman and CEO of derivatives exchange ICE and the CEO of derivatives processing firm Creditex talk about the companies' recent merger, and how the CDS markets will cope with a unique set of challenges ahead
Called to account
Dealers have criticised fair value accounting on illiquid assets as exacerbating the subprime crisis. A growing number of banks and industry bodies have called for a suspension of mark-to-market accounting for illiquid instruments. Are the accounting…
What's it all worth?
When financial markets grind to a halt and liquidity dries up, assessing the value of securities is a notoriously difficult process. Andrew Krull, MD of BlackRock Solutions, talks about how the firm goes about determining fair valuation and appraising…
The ABX index: A pricing conundrum
The liquidity crisis in the ABS market has led to investors using the ABX index as a valuation tool for individual securities - something the index was never designed for. Ben Logan explains the ramifications of this valuation practice
The squeeze is on - The clampdown on CDO ratings
The rating agencies have faced a barrage of criticism over their role in last year's subprime meltdown. This year they have been focusing on ensuring that a repeat of the ABS problems do not occur in other segments of the structured credit market. But…
Hybrids - The alchemists
Much like the early scientists of the Middle Ages who tried to turn base metal into gold, today's financial engineers are wrestling with the task of changing relatively worthless structured credit products into commercially viable and marketable assets…