Feature
Pensions puzzle
Senior politicians in Brussels are calling for Solvency II to be extended to incorporate occupational pension schemes. But actuaries and other solvency experts say this would be a disaster for plan sponsors and members. John Ferry reports
Rethinking and revaluing
Many US insurance companies have reported massive losses on the hedging of variable annuity products. European variable annuity providers, however, have faced problems of their own. Matt Cameron reports
Buy-side battle
Central clearing has dominated the agenda of credit derivatives dealers this year. With regulators pushing for buy-side firms to have access to clearing platforms, dealers and clearing houses are finding there is a great deal of work still to be done…
A tangled web
One year on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, administrators are still trawling through the complex web of special-purpose vehicles launched by the broker-dealer. A number of lawsuits have resulted - and the rulings could see US and UK courts at…
Opening cards
Unprecedented losses on credit card loans are haunting banks and could cause pain for investors in credit card asset-backed securities (ABSs). But despite this, dealers say government support has rehabilitated the market for credit card ABSs. Mark…
Warranting approval?
The US Treasury has come under fire for allowing banks to repurchase warrants held under its Troubled Asset Relief Program at a discount. Is the criticism justified? And what effect is an auction of JP Morgan's warrants likely to have? Mark Pengelly…
Risk Australia 2009 conference report
Australia appears to have escaped the worst of the global financial crisis, but at Risk Australia 2009, held in Sydney last month, bankers, academics and the Australia Treasury stressed there can be no room for complacency and focus must be placed on…
Asia comes of age
Dealers are increasingly offering exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to retail investors to give them access to asset classes and instruments traditionally not available to them. At the same time, regional exchanges are trying to bolster their ETF business. Is…
Treasury tech trials
The financial crisis has created some important challenges for the treasury operations of Asia's leading corporations. What are the lessons learned from the crisis? And how can corporates improve their treasury technology functions? By Harry Thompson
March of the machines
Electronic trading is gaining ground in the Asian derivatives market as financial institutions and their clients seek to gain advantage from more efficient trading capabilities. But the financial crisis has demonstrated that relationship-based trading is…
A state of flux
Efforts to improve the risk architecture for the derivatives business in Asia appear more muted than elsewhere, with many regulators in the region taking a wait-and-see approach towards central counterparty. But, as Duncan Wood reports, there are some…
Data, data everywhere
Making sense of the vast streams of differently formatted data produced by the financial services industry every day is a recurring nightmare for risk managers and regulators. Efforts are now under way to standardise data formats, with Malaysia setting…
Wary about hedge funds
The German marketplace and government has not been particularly welcoming to hedge funds. Many are seen as a disruptive and negative influence on German companies. Nevertheless, some funds are keen to tap into the significant investor base one of the…
Finding the right partner
Selecting a fund administrator from the perspective of a hedge fund or fund of hedge funds is a complex and challenging task. As more funds look to administrators to provide additional outsourcing functions, Kris Devasabai discusses the challenges.
Lawyers set for changing times
Despite increasing regulation, the mood in the offshore legal camp is buoyant. Joanne Harris reports
New blood
Single-family offices are undergoing drastic remodelling to emerge in the image of the younger generation who now controls them. The next generation of family office leaders is making major operational changes, reports Margie Lindsay.
Manager profile: Peter Matthews, founder and managing partner of PJM Capital
Making a mint from science
On debt row
ALM
Fit to size
The one-size-fits-all approach of Solvency II's standard formula has left insurers with a dilemma. Should they use a standard model that is not appropriate to their business strategy, or opt for an internal model that is expensive and time-consuming for…
By the book
Russia's five-year old third pillar pension system started to expand just as the financial crisis swept across the globe - and a deadly combination of high inflation and low government bond yields leaves the sector facing a risk management conundrum…
Quantitative easing: A licence to print money?
The Bank of England's quantitative easing programme has been widely credited with helping stave off economic depression in the UK – for the time being at least. But what impact has it had on the outlook for inflation?
CDPCs: Closed for business
Credit derivatives product companies, the specialised financial insurers who sold protection to structured credit counterparties, have seen the bottom fall out of their market with the demise of the structured products asset class. Some CDPCs, like…
A combined effort
Rather than running the business process and operational risk management frameworks in tandem, why not combine them and use one structure to comply with many rules? By Dennis Dickstein