Infrastructure

Ambac makes $1.539bn derivatives gain

Ambac reported a massive $1.539 billion mark-to-market gain on credit default swaps (CDSs) in the first quarter – an upswing largely due to its own deteriorating financial condition.

Bair: US should pull back from Basel II

The US should back away from the "highly problematic" Basel II framework and instead turn its attention to fine-tuning the current Basel I Accord, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chairman Sheila Bair said yesterday.

Australia's carbon scheme delayed to 2011

The Australian government has delayed the start of its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) to July 2011 and announced a more ambitious emissions reduction target for 2020.

In the clear

The trend away from uncleared over-the-counter trading to cleared OTC trading has prompted exchanges to list a greater range of OTC cleared products. But to what extent can the OTC markets ever become completely cleared? Katie Holliday investigates

Simple structures

An increase in risk premiums on sovereign debt is giving banks a headache in pricing certain credit-related structured products. Investor appetite for such deals is in evidence, but mainly for simple, unleveraged products. Sophia Morrell reports

Column: Charles Cronin

Flawed models, conflicts of interest, ineffectual leadership: the rating agencies have emerged from the financial crisis with little credit, and reform may strip them further of their influence

Inflated expectations

It may seem counterintuitive, given these deflationary times, but inflation-linked fixed income strategies are proving a hit with investors as fiscal stimulus raises the threat that inflation will take over in the medium term. William Rhode reports

Financial pricing for the 21st century

Putting a price on assets for which no active market exists is a process mired in complexity and no little controversy. But the pricing models of yesteryear are simply not up to the job. David Patrikarakos looks at the new generation of valuation models…

Danny Davis

Mishcon de Reya's insolvency expert talks about the need for companies to learn to rely less on external funding, and why a UK-style Chapter 11 process isn't necessarily a good idea

Column: Paul Taylor

Ratings downgrades reflect a decline in creditworthiness, not an admission that the ratings were wrong in the first place. But that doesn't mean the rating process can't be improved. Paul Taylor

Back to basics

We take you back to the credit basics to review everything you thought you already knew but were too afraid to ask ... Susan Hinko of TriOptima explains multilateral terminations

It's payback time

If you still wake up in a cold sweat, haunted by the memory of opening your 2008 bonus slip, you're not alone. Credit professionals across the board saw their bonuses slashed last year. But not all banks were forced to scale back their remuneration…

The sovereign state

While the sovereign market has in the past been most readily associated with rates investors, it has always been a key part of the credit sector, most importantly as a benchmark for the pricing of corporate bonds. But credit default swap levels on…

Legal Spotlight

CDS dealers are under pressure to come up with a market-led solution to the clearing conundrum before regulators force one on them. Peter Green and Jeremy Jennings-Mares report

Product performance

Two products common to the UK market and one that is well-known in the US - all three with the same strike date - are the subject of this month's comparisons

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