Feature
Collateral damage
Securities lending
Low in the water
Freight derivatives
Revolvers misfiring?
Funding risks
Sovereign hedging lessons
The big oil-hedging losses at Sri Lankan state-owned refiner Ceylon Petroleum Corporation provide another salutary lesson in the proper use of derivatives. Is the situation reflective of state-owned energy companies as a group? By Joe Marsh
Sovereign underpinning
Mortgage funding
Regulatory wrangling
Structured products
Clear benefits
The role of central counterparties is being given increased prominence in the over-the-counter markets, with regulators calling for clearing houses for credit derivatives. But how do central counterparties manage their risks? By Clive Davidson
Capital Smorgasbord
Questions are being asked about the level of capital held by banks, after the financial crisis forced governments across the world to make emergency capital injections. Will this change what qualifies as tier-one and tier-two capital? By Duncan Wood
Long overdue
New due diligence and risk weighting guidance for resecuritisations aims to prevent a repeat of the credit crisis, but should these measures have been included in the 2006 version of Basel II? By Peter Madigan
Contract counterattack
Efforts to recover the value of nearly 200,000 derivatives transactions conducted with Lehman Brothers have been frustrated by a provision of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association master agreement. But the bankrupt estate is fighting back…
Challenging times for VAR
With the release of three new consultation papers in January, the Basel Committee has come up with its most ambitious plans yet for tackling the challenges presented by the financial crisis. But its proposal to overhaul VAR models is coming in for some…
Where rocky horror assets go
With injections of government capital seemingly having little effect on restoring confidence in ailing banks, thoughts have once again turned to quarantining distressed assets. Rob Davies examines the options available to policy-makers
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
Plugging the gaps
The various post mortems into the causes of the financial crisis have highlighted weaknesses in bank risk management practices. In particular, many banks approached risk on a silo basis, with little attention given to firm-wide exposures. Are banks…
Risk and compliance pivotal in setting compensation
Editor's blog
Swiss exchange launches collateral option to bolster market
Swiss structured product providers will now be able to collateralise the listings that they trade on Scoach, the national exchange. Providers have responded positively to the initiative, which may provide a much-needed boost to the Swiss structured…
Pacini promoted, Tranter departs as BNP merges sales roles
BNP Paribas Corporate & Investment Banking in London has merged sales roles in its equity derivatives operation under the leadership of Jean-Eric Pacini. Pacini's expanded sales role includes responsibility for flow sales, a business previously headed up…
US Wrap: Flows stabilise as Deutsche Bank broadens US equity exposure
Seven issues were added to a consistent week of issuance yesterday. Alongside the staple of S&P 500-linked products, Deutsche added a broader slice of US equity exposure, with an accelerated growth product linked to the Russell 2000 index, the S&P 400…
Deutsche offers inverse ETF to Asian market
Db x-trackers, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) arm of Deutsche Bank, has launched four new ETFs on the Singapore Stock Exchange including Asia's first inverse fund, the S&P 500 Short ETF, which tracks downwards moves in the S&P 500.
Appetite for financials tested in Mexico
Mexican distributor Actinver has placed an individual call cap structure linked to the yield of a basket of financial stocks. The trade is structured by Société Générale and issued by Société Générale Acceptance.
Investec rolls latest offerings off production line
Investec Structured Products has launched its seventh suite of structured trades comprising accumulation, investment and income plans all linked to the FTSE 100 index. In the income category is the five-year FTSE 100 and RPI Combination Plan 6, which…
Double-short ETFs launched to hedge market falls
EasyETF, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider, has listed five new funds on NYSE Euronext Paris. Three of the funds offer double leverage on the downside of European equity indexes, as a means of providing a hedge against further market falls.
CDS: US and European banks continue to tighten
Credit default swap 5-year mid-levels for structured products issuers (Thursday February 26)
CDS: Banks tighten after midweek blow out
Credit default swap 5-year mid-levels for structured products issuers (Tuesday February 24 & Wednesday 25)