Structured products
Q1 scapegoats: energy and weather
Risk’s second quarterly round-up of corporate risk disclosures provides some evidence that companies are becoming more forthcoming. But losses on hedgeable exposures, especially energy and weather, continued to plague many
Esops: time to hedge?
With share prices depressed, now seems a good time for companies with large employee stock option plans to hedge them. Why aren’t corporate treasurers acting?
Getting the deal done
Falling equity valuations have made funding a merger or acquisition with stock difficult. Equity derivatives dealers are devising and updating hedges to ensure deals get done despite the bear market. Rob Dwyer examines the latest techniques
An aggressive agenda
Dresdner’s chief risk officer, Heinrich Linz, is masterminding a credit revolution at the German bank.
The evolving art of pricing cliquets
Cliquet options are widely traded and embedded in many retail structured products. But they are hard to value and some dealers claim their rivals are mis-pricing them. Navroz Patel reports on the debate and some initiatives that may help
Insurers embrace risk systems
Insurance companies have been slower than banks to adopt advanced risk modelling techniques and technologies. But regulatory changes and business exigencies are spurring them to adopt a new generation of risk and capital management systems
Basel II focus switches to securitisation after SME loan solution agreed
Experts working on the Basel II bank capital rules are focusing on the technically difficult issue of asset securitisation after agreeing a solution this month to the politically sensitive problem of how lending to small and medium-sized enterprises …
Japan Credit Market Update: Spreads track equities on WorldCom fears
The cost of default protection on Japanese credits stabilised on Friday after Wednesday’s sharp widening caused by a $3.8 billion accounting scandal at US telecommunications group WorldCom, volatile equity markets and the steady strengthening of the yen…
Westpac considers cap guarantee funds
Australian bank Westpac plans to start launching capital guaranteed funds into the Australian market-place within the next 12 months, according to Stephen Eakin, head of equity derivatives at Westpac in Sydney.
Credit Congress 2002: Credit hedging by convertible hedge funds set to rise, says Goldman
The potential opportunities for convertible hedge fund arbitrage will see the market grow from $2 to $2.5 billion by the end of this year, according to Klaus Toft, an executive director in Goldman Sachs’ credit derivatives strategies group.
Basel II focus switches to securitisation after SME loan solution agreed
Experts working on the Basel II bank capital rules are focusing on the technically difficult issue of asset securitisation after agreeing a solution this month to the politically sensitive problem of how lending to small and medium-sized enterprises …
ABN Amro, Eureka Hedge Advisors to launch Asian hedge fund index
ABN Amro and Eureka Hedge Advisors, a hedge fund research and advisory service based in Hong Kong and Singapore, have launched a benchmark index for Asian hedge funds. The service is aimed at providing investors and fund managers with a means to compare…
US middle-market CLO business poised to rise, says Fitch
US middle-market collateralised loan obligation (CLO) issuance is set to rise, according to a new Fitch Ratings report. A middle-market company is classed as one with annual revenues of between $10 and 400 million.
UK central bank concerned by investor appetite for credit risk
The purchase of credit derivatives instruments by some institutional investors in their hunt for yield is a cause for concern, the Bank of England said in its latest Financial Stability Review, released today.
HVB in major hedge fund push
Germany’s HypoVereinsbank (HVB) is restructuring its hedge fund activities in an effort to step-up its global alternative investments business. The move is intended to capitalise on the boom in demand for alternative investments, such as hedge funds, in…
Rabobank sues RBC over Enron total return swap
Rabobank, the Dutch financial institution, has filed a lawsuit against Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) over a $517 million swap transaction that RBC entered into with Rabobank to hedge a loan the Canadian institution had made to a unit of now-defunct energy…
Risk contributor Blejer steps down as Argentine central bank governor
Mario Blejer, a former senior adviser to the International Monetary fund (IMF), has resigned as governor of the Argentine central bank. The move could prove to be a blow to Argentine president Eduardo Duhalde's efforts to restore the country's battered…