Credit markets
Merrill Lynch launches fixed income structuring unit
Merrill Lynch in the US has set up a unit which will focus on all aspects of structuring for fixed income products, excluding cash and synthetic collateralised debt obligations.
S&P to adopt Case-Shiller housing indexes for CME derivatives
Standards & Poor’s (S&P) plans to offer housing indexes, which will provide the basis for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) new breed of property derivatives.
Seeking risk transfer
In response to regulatory pressures, European insurers are boosting their efforts to transfer risk to the capital markets. Increasingly, insurance firms are using securitisation as part of their capital management strategies. Rachel Wolcott looks at the…
Isda proposes net physical settlement
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has released a draft of the net physical settlement supplement to the 2003 credit derivatives definitions, which aims to simplify the settlement of credit default swaps (CDSs) after a credit event.
Banks get stressed
The UK's Financial Services Authority has called on banks to improve stress testing of possible disruptive events, while the Basel Committee declared last year that firms must supplement their value-at-risk models with stress tests. But some bankers…
Interest in hybrid securitisations with leveraged loan CDSs grows
Hybrid collateralised loan obligations (CLO) deals with a leverage loan credit default swap (CDS) component are increasing in number, according to Vishwanath Tirupattur, a New York-based vice-president at Morgan Stanley, who spoke at Fitch Ratings’…
Deutsche begins market-making leveraged loan CDS
Deutsche Bank's London office has begun to trade credit default swaps based on European leveraged loans (LCDS) this week. The German bank had executed trades before, but it is now actively making markets and showing pricing runs for more than 20 names.
Isda AGM Singapore: Dana CDS index protocol published
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has published a protocol solution to facilitate the settlement of credit derivatives trades involving Dana Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy on March 3, 2006.
Isda AGM Singapore: Isda launches FpML services
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association will launch financial products markup language (FpML) services to support the use of the business information exchange protocol used to facilitate electronic dealing and processing of privately…
Standard confirmation for preferred CDS hammered out
Eight dealers have agreed upon standard documentation for preferred credit default swap (CDS) transactions. The new standards will likely enhance liquidity of the nascent market.
European securitisation reaches highest levels
Demand from investors seeking higher investment-grade yields drove the issuance of European securitisation to its highest level last year, according to the latest quarterly report from the European Securitisation Forum (ESF). Issuance reached €319.6…
S&P places three Hong Kong CDOs on negative credit watch
Standard & Poor’s has placed the ratings on three Hong Kong synthetic collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) on credit watch with negative implications. The agency affirmed the ratings on two other Hong Kong CDOs.
Facing the Four Risks
CIOs must prepare for threats that could spell disaster for their firms, so how can they survive in dangerous waters?
CDS IndexCo and Markit launch synthetic US CMBS index
CDS IndexCo and Markit have launched CMBX, a range of synthetic credit default swap (CDS) indexes of US commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS), which will trade from today.
Corrigan: progress made on credit derivatives, more work to be done
Speaking after a symposium organised by the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group II (CRMPG II) yesterday in New York, Gerald Corrigan, a New York-based co-chairman of Goldman Sachs's firm-wide risk committee and chairman of the industry group, said…
Full steam ahead
The rising cost of shipping fuel is causing more and more shipowners and commodity merchants to consider risk management strategies, and some sophisticated marine fuel trades are taking place as a result, writes Barry Parker
South Africa New beginnings
Regional Focus
iBoxx inflates index offering
Inflation-Linked Bonds
Hedge funds play it safe
Mezzanine Debt