Feature
Collateralised loan obligations
Enron’s bankruptcy highlighted the problems that the lack of portfolio transparency and diversification in the collateralised loan obligation (CLO) market causes investors. Barrie Wilkinson and Andrew Kuritzkes of Oliver, Wyman & Co argue a ‘multi-bank…
The vanilla explosion
Business in three- to five-year vanilla default swaps now accounts for around a third of the market’s total notional outstandings. With many dealers reporting twofold or more growth in volumes, the credit derivatives market is now in full stride.
Job moves
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: - “I can’t get rid of the stupid thing” Lev Borodovsky, co-founder of Garp, describing difficulties negotiating a transfer of ownership Source: RiskNews, January 16
Lighting the fuse
China
The missing piece
Thailand
Surviving the downturn
Comment
Rallying cry for Italy
Italian banks are racing to catch up with their largest US and European competitors in risk modelling. Inspired by Mauro Maccarinelli, IntesaBci is leading the pack.
CreditTrade strikes deal with Digital Island
CreditTrade, a credit derivatives dealing platform, plans to offer Web services that it says should cut implementation and facilities costs by 30%, while accommodating up to 5,000 transactions per day.
CORRECTION: I-Wex backs hourly data to boost weather market
A correction has been made to the final paragraph of this story, published on RiskNews, January 25. Element Re, and not Aquila, as stated in the original story, has become QuantWeather's first customer.
Isda and FpML complete integration
The International Swaps and Derivatives Organisation (Isda) has completed the integration of Financial products Markup Language (FpML) into its organisational structure.
Market upbeat as WeatherRisk 2002 opens
The WeatherRisk 2002 conference in New York opened today in upbeat mood, with speakers predicting strong future growth in the market despite the pull out of two leading weather derivatives trading firms, Enron and BNP Paribas.
Isda, FpML.org unveil trial recommendation for FpML 2.0
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association and FpML.org, scheduled to merge at the end of January, have published a trial recommendation for financial products markup language (FpML) Version 2.0.
Synthetics up on back of credit derivatives growth
Increased familiarity with credit derivatives is leading to a greater appetite for synthetic securitisation, according to the two main ratings agencies, Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Moody's.
Managing with a canny approach
Mike Thomas has enjoyed success with Martin Currie's hedge fund by capitalising on inefficiencies in the Japanese market