Infrastructure
Pricing the weather
Pricing weather derivatives is different from valuing other derivatives contracts – actuarial methods play a greater role. Steve Jewson looks at the varied approaches available
Baiting the hook
End-users such as utilities and industrial companies are not showing the same keenness as hedge funds for trading weather derivatives, despite the efforts of banks, dealers and brokers to lure them in. By Joe Marsh
Thinking positively
Cutting edge: Low default portfolios
The twin challenges of Basel and MiFID
SPONSORED ROUND TABLE
Investors look to super-senior risk
New angles
Spreading the word
Profile
RiskNews
RiskNews
Credit model rethink
Synthetic credit
Playing catch-up
Automated settlement
The mezzanine wrangle
Mezzanine finance
Ensuring Insurance
Are existing insurance products meeting financial institutions' needs? Giuffre Associates' Sandra Giuffre finds out
Is Basel II a hurdle too far for US broker-dealers?
Broker-dealers in the US are having to cope with the SEC's capital requirements, while still being somewhat in the dark about the upcoming Basel II framework. By Choongo Moonga
MiFID: the race to comply
The EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive has been described as one of the most far-reaching overhauls of the financial industry ever. But with Basel II dominating the headlines, few firms have yet started to prepare in earnest for the 2007…
Markit to use ICB classification
Markit Group is to adopt the Dow Jones/FTSE Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) system for all its products, the group announced today.
New op risk papers
LONDON – A raft of new technical papers on operational risk have been made available on the web over the past few months. A few of the most interesting are summarised below:
In pole position
Technology
Group of 26 grinds to a halt
The proposals from the Group of 26 fund managers calling for improved covenants were supposed to herald a new era of protection for bondholders. But nearly two years later, the impetus for change seems to have stalled. Laurence Neville reports
Keep it simple, stupid
Do you prefer sophistication or simplicity? Neil Palmer takes a look at optimisation methods in energy modelling and asks if energy quants aren’t sometimes being a little too heavy-handed
Eurex to launch CDS index product
Eurex has licensed International Index Company's European iTraxx indexes in preparation for the launch of an exchange-traded contract based on the European credit default swap (CDS) index before the end of the year.
European ABS: Will it end in tiers?
As part of a special focus on asset-backed securities, we take a look at the European ABS market. After a prolonged period of spread compression, credit tiering may be making a return to the market, as Alan McNee reports
Isda backs Bear Stearns appeal against Enron
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association and the Bond Markets Assocation (BMA) have backed Bear Stearns' latest attempt to keep hold of $25.9 million in payments on a stock forward agreement, in the face of Enron's attempt to recover it.
Struggling for growth
All three Canadian energy exchanges – NGX, Watt-Ex and NetThruPut – are finding it slow-going with their expansion plans. Meanwhile the rivalry between NGX and Watt-Ex is growing. Joe Marsh reports