Structured products
Update: Fitch calls for notching debate
Fitch Ratings today called for an open forum debate on the practice of collateralised debt obligation notching. Fitch released a report yesterday slamming its rival Moody’s for notching bonds in CDOs that Moody’s did not originally rate. Fitch claims the…
Fitch hits back at Moody's in CDO ratings row
Rating agency Fitch moved to defend its standing in the collateralised debt obligation (CDO) rating market by slating the ‘notching’ practices used by rival rating agency Moody’s in a formal report yesterday.
JP Morgan scoops Credit magazine's credit derivatives strategy research award
JP Morgan Chase has taken the top ranking in Credit magazine's credit derivatives strategy research survey, receiving almost twice as many nominations as the second ranked bank, Morgan Stanley. Credit is a sister publication to RiskNews .
Risk 2002 USA: Convertible arb funds could face liquidity risk concerns, says Soros Fund risk head
The rash of new convertible arbitrage funds in the market has created concerns about liquidity risk problems, according to Peruvemba Satish, director of risk management and reporting at Soros Fund Management in New York.
BMA and IIF issue new proposals to protect sovereign debt investors
The heads of six major financial bodies, including the Bond Market Association (BMA) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF), have issued a list of principles to enhance creditor protection in cases of sovereign debt restructuring.
Credit Markets Update: Williams hit due to energy investigation
Continued federal enquiries and a credit downgrade for US energy trader and gas pipeline operator Williams caused five-year debt protection spreads on the company to widen a further 30 basis points this week, after its spreads swelled 200bp last week and…
Risk 2002 USA: credit risk transfer under the spotlight
Robin Lenna - head of portfolio management at FleetBoston Financial - highlighted the important role of insurers in the credit risk transfer market at the Risk 2002 USA conference in Boston today, while Carl Groth - a director at Willis Structured…
IAIS credit risk transfer investigation sees worrying trends
The Basel-based International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), which represents insurance supervisory authorities of some 100 jurisdictions, said it is concerned that some insurance companies active in the $1 trillion credit derivatives…
Credit Lyonnais prepares Asian-flavoured arbitrage synthetic CDO
France’s Credit Lyonnais Securities is getting ready to launch a global arbitrage synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) within a month, according to the bank’s head of Japan investment banking and ex-Japan Asian debt capital markets, Jean-Marc…
Integrated credit risk management – are you ready?
Consolidating data across fragmented systems is crucial for integrated credit risk management – but it is not the whole story. In the first of four columns on the subject, David Rowe argues that organisational readiness is a more amorphous but equally…
Weaving an integrated solution
A treacherous credit environment and growing awareness of the danger of credit and market risk correlation have convinced financial institutions that they need to evaluate these exposures together. To get a unified view, will they need to adopt unified…
Front in new sales drive
Stockholm-based trading and risk management technology provider Front Capital Systems, an operating unit of SunGard Trading Systems, has made two key sales appointments to support the company’s global expansion. Front has recruited Stephen Butcher to…
Japan Credit Market Update: Spreads tighten in technical correction
Spreads on Japanese credit default swaps were tighter this week, in what traders described as a technical correction after a raft of convertible bond issue hedges in the past couple of months had earlier forced spreads wider.
Credit Markets Update: Tyco curve inverts on CIT spin-off delay concerns
A potential delay to the planned spin-off of CIT, the financial services unit of Tyco, caused five-year debt protection spreads on Tyco and CIT to balloon 200 basis points this week, and Tyco’s credit derivatives swaps curve to invert.
Taking a new career track
CDO managers
The roads to currency overlay
Forex risk
Making the connection
Front-office systems
S&P and LoanX to provide pricing service for illiquid leveraged loans
Rating agency Standard & Poor's and LoanX, an online pricing service for syndicated loans, plan to roll out a new service for pricing the illiquid end of the leveraged loan market by the fourth quarter. The move is important because the US Securities and…
El Paso closes Singapore office amid troubles
Houston-based energy trader and gas major El Paso is closing its Singapore office. The operation, opened in January 2001, was El Paso’s base for its Asian activities, which included investment in local pipeline projects. In 2001, El Paso was the second…
Credit Markets Update: Repsol spreads hit again over Argentina
The cost of protection on Spanish oil company Repsol YPF’s debt widened 50 basis points to 460bp/510bp today, in what traders described as a delayed market response to proposals last Thursday by the Argentine Commission of Energy to impose more…
BNP Paribas ready to launch Pacific Liberté $1.2 billion synthetic CLO
BNP Paribas is poised to launch a $1.2 billion, three-year synthetic balance sheet collateralised loan obligation (CLO) called Pacific Liberté, possibly as soon as this week or next, according to market sources.
ING shelves Spectra synthetic CDO, mulls Japanese synthetic
ING Barings has cancelled, or as one market source put it, “put on hold indefinitely,” its Spectra arbitrage synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO). It would have been the first arbitrage synthetic CDO managed by an Asian portfolio manager,…
Sweden’s public pension system makes its first hedge fund investments
The $2.5 billion Seventh Swedish National Pension Fund, or "AP7", which is part of the Swedish national pension fund system, has agreed to allocate $48 million to K2 Advisors, a New York-based hedge fund of funds. K2 says it is the first hedge fund…