News/Commodities
Derivatives are “time bombs”, warns Buffett
Derivatives are “time bombs” for the parties that deal in them and for the economic system as a whole, high-profile US investor Warren Buffett warned yesterday.
"Substantial flaws still remain" in Basel II, says CSFB's Ervin
"While there is much to admire in the new [Basel II] rules, there are also many elements that raise serious concern," said Wilson Ervin, a managing director and head of the firm's strategic risk management department of Credit Suisse First Boston, who…
Substantial flaws remain in Basel II, says CSFB's Ervin
Wilson Ervin, head of the strategic risk management department at Credit Suisse First Boston, yesterday said that there are causes for concern in the Basel II proposals. "While there is much to admire in the new [Basel II] rules, there are also many…
Formation of WBOT blows off course
Atlanta-based Weather Board of Trade (WBOT) has missed its planned February 2003 launch date, and its viability has been called into a question by a number of market participants. The online weather derivatives exchange originally planned to launch in…
Insurers to sue Worldwide Weather Trading for fraud
A number of insurance companies have been granted the go-ahead by the Nassau County Court in New York to launch a lawsuit against Worldwide Weather Trading (WWT), alleging the company fraudulently sold weather derivatives policies. The plaintiffs will…
Deutsche launches commodity indexes
Deutsche Bank has launched two new indexes that track the performance of a small set of liquid commodities.
AIR releases US temperature database
AIRWeather, a division of Boston-based natural hazard modelling company AIR Worldwide Corporation, yesterday released PerfecTemp Hourly, claiming that it is the first cleaned and reconstructed hourly station temperature database for the US. PerfecTemp…
AccuWeather president calls for regulation of US National Weather Service
Joel Myers, president of AccuWeather, the Pennsylvania-based weather forecasting company, yesterday called for increased government regulation of the US National Weather Service (NWS), amid fears that its current practice of offering certain institutions…
Mark-it plans to offer data pricing service for structured credit
Mark-it Partners, a two-year-old company founded by senior bankers at Canada’s Toronto Dominion, is in advanced negotiations to set up a data pricing service for collateralised debt obligations (CDOs). If successful, this could become the first such…
ORIAG paper published on FSA website
The Operational Risk Implementation Advisory Group (ORIAG), which is chaired by the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA), has posted its working paper, "Implementation of the Capital Accord for Operational Risk" on its website.
Hedge fund of fund investors may start using overlays
Improved risk exposure reporting by hedge funds may spark the introduction of new overlay strategies by investors increasingly concerned by bubbles of non-diversifiable risk in their portfolios.
Fimat to launch global hedge fund index
Fimat Global Fund Services, the prime brokerage arm of Fimat International Banque, plans to add to the growing number of hedge fund indexes in the market with the launch of a volatility arbitrage hedge fund index in the next few weeks.
Moody’s to give more weight to operational risk when rating banks
Moody's Investors Service will focus more on operational risks when rating banks, the rating agency said today.
Moody’s to give more weight to operational risk when rating banks
Moody’s Investors Service will focus more on operational risks when rating banks, the rating agency said today.
Japanese synthetic CDO market to see continued growth
Japan’s synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) market is likely to continue to boom in 2003, according to a report published this week by credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service.
S&P exits data business with sale of ComStock to Interactive Data
Interactive Data Corp, a unit of UK media company Pearson, has agreed to buy Standard & Poor’s (S&P) ComStock for $115 million in cash, adding real-time market data to its stable of products.
Entergy Koch enters Spanish power market
US energy trader Entergy Koch Trading (EKT) has started to trade derivatives in the Spanish power market. The move will enhance EKT’s cross-commodity capabilities across power and weather, and will add to cross-border trading activities, an EKT…
BNP to launch European power trading desk
BNP Paribas today said it plans to start a European powertrading desk as part of its energy and commodity business.
Kat to set up Alternative Investment Research Centre in London
Harry Kat, a former derivatives banker and quantitative finance academic, has been made professor of risk management at the Sir John Cass School of Business at City University in London. Kat, an author of numerous quantitative finance papers and former…
Tullett and Starsupply merge oil businesses
Brokers Tullett Liberty and Starsupply Energy have merged their oil businesses to create what they claim is one of the largest energy broking operations worldwide.