Structured products
Catch 22 for corporate liquidity
Companies facing relatively minor business difficulties are being shut out of the commercial paper market, forcing their treasurers to scramble for alternative financing to avoid insolvency. Is there any way to manage this liquidity risk?
Job moves
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: - “I have come to you with a problem – we need to outsource our balance-sheet funding” From an e-mail sent last year by John Rusnak to an unnamed counterparty, referring to his deep-in-the-money options trades, or ‘synthetic loans'.
Servicing the e-industry
Investing in IT infrastructure development is essential in today’s often fractured environment of rival software languages and specific trading needs. Clive Davidson discovers what is on offer to bring these disparate elements together
Corporate disclosure | Exposing exposures: how far will it go?
The Enron debacle has spurred investors and creditors to press for greater disclosure of corporate risk and hedging strategies. Companies are beginning to respond. How far will it go? Naomi Humphries reports
Hedge fund risk and VAR uncertainty
External transparency of the risk of hedge funds continues to be a difficult issue. But even internally, traditional risk measures can fail to portray the full implication of highly leveraged positions. David Rowe argues that the parameter sensitivity of…
Fannie and Freddie – a look under the lid
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two of the largest and most sophisticated participants in the US interest rate derivatives market. But criticism of their risk management has been growing. Is the market safe?
Scaling the wall
Corporate hedging
European equity derivatives outstrip cash for first time
Banks in the European corporate and institutional markets are making more money out of equity derivatives than cash products for the first time, according to Morgan Stanley and consultants Oliver, Wyman.
FSF chair backs SPVs but calls for better disclosure
The Financial Stability Forum (FSF), a body of national supervisors set up in 1999, has emphasised the need for greater disclosure and corporate governance in the wake of a number of high-profile bankruptcies, at its first meeting following the collapse…
Man Group’s performance remains solid
Man Group - the UK asset manager and derivatives brokerage – has released its pre-close trading results, with funds under management currently standing at $10.5 billion – a 57% increase on the previous year.
Credit derivatives majors form data alliance
Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase have launched a credit derivatives market data scrubbing and sharing project meant to head off disputes among market participants over the terms of their contracts.
Singapore eases restrictions on foreign derivatives firms
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has liberalised its Singapore dollar non-internationalisation policy, to allow greater participation in its capital markets by international investors and financial institutions.
Cap guarantee funds still booming in Hong Kong
Several capital guaranteed funds have been issued in Hong Kong over the last few weeks, with more expected before the end of the month, despite a consensus that a rise in interest rates may reduce the attractiveness of such structures.
UBS increases use of credit derivatives
Swiss investment bank UBS Warburg hedged around 30% of its corporate and institutional lending in 2001 using credit derivatives and other credit instruments. The inceased focus on credit risk follows the record number of global corporate defaults in 2001.