Structured products
Column: Charles Cronin
Flawed models, conflicts of interest, ineffectual leadership: the rating agencies have emerged from the financial crisis with little credit, and reform may strip them further of their influence
Inflated expectations
It may seem counterintuitive, given these deflationary times, but inflation-linked fixed income strategies are proving a hit with investors as fiscal stimulus raises the threat that inflation will take over in the medium term. William Rhode reports
Financial pricing for the 21st century
Putting a price on assets for which no active market exists is a process mired in complexity and no little controversy. But the pricing models of yesteryear are simply not up to the job. David Patrikarakos looks at the new generation of valuation models…
Danny Davis
Mishcon de Reya's insolvency expert talks about the need for companies to learn to rely less on external funding, and why a UK-style Chapter 11 process isn't necessarily a good idea
Column: Paul Taylor
Ratings downgrades reflect a decline in creditworthiness, not an admission that the ratings were wrong in the first place. But that doesn't mean the rating process can't be improved. Paul Taylor
Banks await verdict from capital adequacy tests
US authorities prepare to release results of a series of stress tests conducted on 19 financial institutions to ascertain whether any are in need of immediate capital assistance
It's payback time
If you still wake up in a cold sweat, haunted by the memory of opening your 2008 bonus slip, you're not alone. Credit professionals across the board saw their bonuses slashed last year. But not all banks were forced to scale back their remuneration…
The sovereign state
While the sovereign market has in the past been most readily associated with rates investors, it has always been a key part of the credit sector, most importantly as a benchmark for the pricing of corporate bonds. But credit default swap levels on…
Legal Spotlight
CDS dealers are under pressure to come up with a market-led solution to the clearing conundrum before regulators force one on them. Peter Green and Jeremy Jennings-Mares report
Column: John Wraith
The Bank of England has yet to reveal how it intends to wind down its quantitative easing programme of buying back gilts - assuming, of course, the policy achieves its aims
Robust asset allocation under model risk
Financial investors often develop a multitude of models to explain financial securities' dynamics, none of which they can fully trust. Model risk (also referred to as ambiguity) prevents investors from using the classical framework of expected utility…
Internal affairs
Internal Models
People
News
Product performance
Two products common to the UK market and one that is well-known in the US - all three with the same strike date - are the subject of this month's comparisons
A downward spiral?
Markets