Credit markets
Credit too hot to handle
Some distributors in Asia are offering first-to-default retail credit notes that give sovereign exposure, signalling a revival of interest in credit. But heavy mark-to-market losses and the use of CDOs as underlying collateral in previous issues have…
Comeback for convertibles
Taiwan
An emerging reality
Exchange-traded funds
Scenarios for all seasons
Technology
All Boxed Out
Special Report: Interest rates
Fitch unveils new structured product ratings
Rating agency Fitch has revealed its proposed new system of rating structured products, originally suggested in April this year.
Moody's shakes up structured finance team as CPDO scandal grows
The head of structured finance at New York-based rating agency Moody's is leaving after the firm announced disciplinary proceedings over mis-rating of European constant proportion debt obligations (CPDOs).
Explaining the Levy base correlation smile
Joao Garcia and Serge Goossens look at base expected loss at maturity both in the Gaussian copula and Levy-based models, and link it to base correlation in these frameworks. They report on the existence of smile in both base correlation curves and…
From niche to nova
Barclays Capital's head of equity-linked products, Dixit Joshi, talks to Alexander Campbell
Rates reversal
Editor's letter
Investors caught short by auction rate meltdown
Investors badly misjudged the risks posed by auction rate securities (ARS), and the willingness of dealers to keep supporting the market in the event of a liquidity drought, a new report has shown.
Derivatives Summit: Investors should heed lessons of crisis, summit told
Investors should heed the lessons of the credit crunch by changing the products they invest in, said senior BNP Paribas bankers speaking at Risk ’s 2008 Derivatives Summit in London.
BNP Paribas to purchase Bank of America prime brokerage arm
BNP Paribas is to acquire the equity prime brokerage business of Bank of America (BoA) for a reported $300 million, the two banks have announced. Subject to regulatory approval, the deal will be finalised in the second half of 2008.
Evidence of risk tolerance returning, says BIS
After the turmoil of the past year, there are tentative signs that investor appetite for risk is coming back, according to the findings of the Bank for International Settlements’ (BIS) latest Quarterly Review.
Ambac, MBIA finally succumb to S&P downgrade, Moody's to follow suit
Beleaguered monoline insurers Ambac and MBIA have lost their Standard & Poor's (S&P) AAA ratings, just a day after Moody's placed both firms under review as a precursor to downgrade action of its own.
Hedges clipped
Fund-linked derivatives
Falling short
130/30 funds
A tough year
Institutional Investor Rankings 2008