Structured products
Seismic changes hit fund derivatives
Participants in the European structured products industry face an unprecedented challenge in managing counterparty risk. One of the beneficiaries of the crisis of confidence will be the structured funds industry. At the same time liquidity shortages and…
Editor's letter
Editorial
A return to structured products?
Structured products have been largely shunned since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, but low returns in other asset classes may prompt institutional investors to return to the sector in the year ahead. By Peter Madigan
Rainy day funds
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have continued to gain traction in South Africa despite agitated markets. As a result, local ETF providers are extending their reach to new investors and asset classes - with some even looking to introduce exchange-traded…
Just another tool in the box
Credit ratings
ASF 2009 highlights challenges for securitisation market
The annual conference for securitisation professionals, held in Las Vegas, showed that the industry is under no illusions about the difficulties it is currently going through, but that there is a collective will to turn the situation round. Mark Kahn of…
Crunch time for autos
The world's carmakers are battling for survival. Should bondholders shun the sector or is there value in the firms best placed to beat the recession? Nikki Marmery reports
ASF 2009 highlights challenges for securitisation market
The annual conference for securitisation professionals, held in Las Vegas, showed that the industry is under no illusions about the difficulties it is currently going through, but that there is a collective will to turn the situation round. Mark Kahn of…
Swap shop
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, under its chief executive Bob Pickel (right), is the trade body for dealers of, amongst other things, credit derivatives. As such, Pickel and his members are at the centre of a storm raging around the…
Dealers and regulators: Who will blink first?
High noon for CDS Clearing
What to do with the toxic debt
The issue of how to tackle the vast quantities of impaired assets lingering on banks' balance sheets has given rise to several possible solutions, chief among which is the notion of a 'bad bank'. Credit asks five market participants how such a scheme…
'Big bang' protocol provides wake-up call for CDS market over credit event settlement
A new scheme for adjudicating on credit event auctions, consisting of a centralised committee, will replace the old system of ad hoc decision-making
From alpha to omega
The standard measures of credit risk do not efficiently capture the possible distribution of losses on a portfolio. But the Omega function may provide a solution for investors. Gene Yeboah