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Islamic finance - Work in progress
Securitisation
UK regulator to simplify reporting
The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the UK regulator, plans to shorten two of its compulsory returns, in an effort to ease the administrative burden placed on UK industry.
Hong Kong warns banks on capital and disclosure compliance
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has reminded banks they must demonstrate compliance with rules introduced this year.
SEC names financial reporting committee members
Christopher Cox, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC)’s chair, announced the members of the new Committee on Improvements to Financial Committee yesterday.
Regulatory compliance to transform market data
The introduction of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) in the EU and the Regulation of National Market System (Reg NMS) in the US could increase the amount of market data published by 900%.
Lufthansa
The German airline group stresses strong communication between those handling the physical and financial sides of the business as paramount to energy price risk management
The one that gets away
Managing volumetric risk is exceedingly challenging, yet getting it wrong can damage a company's reputation and make it look as though it is not in control of its operations. Garth Renne and Ken Truesdell of Brookfield Power suggest some solutions
Adelaide Brighton
Volatility in the Australian power market has forced the cement manufacturer to employ some innovative risk management and asset optimisation solutions
A spreading collapse?
The unbridled optimism that spurred the ethanol market upwards in 2006 has been replaced by a more sombre mood. David Watkins reports
Accessing China's oil market
China's wholesale oil market is opening up to foreign investment and several western oil majors are making inroads. But many regulatory obstacles remain, as Lauren Hilgers reports
Going with the flow
The competitive edge that physical natural gas players have historically enjoyed is being eroded by advances in information flows. Vincent Kaminski and Russell Braziel discuss their study, which suggests new information flows have transformed natural gas…
Rethinking US liberalisation
Citing rising electricity prices, critics of liberalisation have recently managed to convince lawmakers in several US states to rethink policies that ban utilities from owning power plants. Elisa Wood investigates the current state of play
Tales from the sell side
Asia, and in particular China and India, represents the largest source of project-related emissions reduction credits going into the UN's Clean Development Mechanism system. Oliver Holtaway speaks to Asia Carbon Exchange's N Yuvaraj Dinesh Babu about the…
AstraZeneca
Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has restructured its supply contracts towards a more flexible model
Weathering risk
Earlier this year, Storm Exchange unveiled its electronic weather exchange, based on 500 proprietary, industry-specific weather indexes serving the over-the-counter markets. David Watkins speaks to David Riker, Storm's president and chief executive,…
Weighing up the options
Mounting domestic environmental issues and worldwide energy security uncertainty are pushing the Chinese government to consider the full gamut of energy options – including renewables. Yue Zhang and Chong Siang Chew of the Institute of Energy Economics,…
Tentative decisions
Private equity has shied away from investment in energy assets in the past. But as Ian Bagshaw and Charles Jacobs, partners at Linklaters, explain, some players are now starting to show an interest
Stora Enso
The Scandinavian paper maker has found that having its own generation assets can be an effective hedge against rising and volatile power prices
South Korea hedges its bets
Corporate hedging of energy and commodity price risk in South Korea used to be the purview of a handful of large conglomerates. But a recent change in regulation has opened up the door to a whole new tier of potential hedgers. Local banks are now teaming…
Matchmakers
Post-trade confirmation in the energy market, once slow and prone to error, is becoming increasingly efficient due to the successful rollout of trade confirmation standards. David Watkins looks at how two of the competing standards have developed
Clearing the way
The Futures and Options Association has called on UK power market participants to come forward to help develop the market's structure. Chris Cook proposes an enterprise model that aims to overcome the obstacles to co-operation
End-user forum
Energy procurement and price risk management is an increasingly vital function for energy intensive companies, from airlines and cement manufacturers to supermarket retailers. Roderick Bruce investigates the challenges facing such companies in Europe and…
Keeping the wheels turning
When confronted with business continuity issues, energy giant E.ON used to turn to a printed manual. Now it has introduced a constantly evolving system to deal with BCP challenges. Duncan Wood investigates