Articles by Christopher Whittall
Sell suits
A number of lawsuits have emerged across the globe, with disgruntled corporates alleging they were sold unsuitable derivatives products and were unaware of the risks involved. Will changes to bank selling practices emerge as a result? By Christopher…
Risk institutional investor rankings 2009
Dealer bankruptcies, government intervention, unprecedented volatility and a dearth of liquidity have made the past 12 months among the most challenging for institutional investors. In this difficult environment, investors have voted Goldman Sachs the…
Setting global standards
Accounting
Ratings redux
Rating agencies have been lambasted for perceived failings in their collateralised debt obligation (CDO) rating methodologies. The leading agencies have published revised methodologies, but has it swung too much the other way? With the CDO market in the…
History repeating
The spreading of the crisis to central and eastern Europe has caused local currencies to plunge. With financial institutions and corporates struggling to service foreign currency debt, the situation bears similarities to the Asian financial crisis…
Madoff fallout
A growing number of lawsuits have emerged accusing fund management firms of investing client money with Bernard Madoff without conducting adequate due diligence. Do these accusations have merit? What are fund managers doing to improve their due diligence…
The short story
The UK Financial Services Authority ended its ban on short selling of financial stocks on January 16. How have financial stocks performed since the restrictions were lifted? Christopher Whittall investigates
Revolvers misfiring?
Funding risks
Low in the water
Freight derivatives
Revolving draws
As uncertainty cloaked the capital markets late last year, a number of corporates tapped committed revolving credit lines originally intended as backstop facilities. Could a potential surge in drawdowns affect banks already constrained by capital?…
Shipping out
The shipping industry has suffered huge losses in recent months, with the Baltic Exchange Dry Index sinking 94% between May and December last year. What are the knock-on effects for the developing freight derivatives market? Christopher Whittall…
Fair enough?
Fair-value accounting has been blamed for exacerbating the scale of the financial crisis, leading for calls from some politicians for it to be suspended. The accounting standards boards have rushed out clarifications on mark-to-market rules, but are they…
