News
ICE and NGX expand physical natural gas clearing
IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) and Calgary-based Natural Gas Exchange (NGX) are to provide deal entry capability to energy brokers for physically cleared OTC natural gas contracts.
Doubt over opportunities for new monolines
With financial guarantors hit by a raft of downgrades in recent months as a result of exposures to subprime mortgage-linked securities – restricting their ability to generate new business - several new players are waiting in the wings to fill the void…
Northern Rock appoints CRO
Troubled UK mortgage bank Northern Rock has appointed Rick Hunkin as its chief risk officer. He will join the company by September 1, 2008.
Second review on Athilon rating
Moody's yesterday placed the AAA counterparty rating of credit derivatives product company (CDPC) Athilon Capital on watch for downgrade.
SEC hits out at agencies over RMBS
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday published a report detailing the results of its investigation on the three main credit rating agencies' practices in rating products that reference residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).
Singapore announces commodities exchange
Trading technology company Financial Technologies Group is to launch a Singapore-based commodities exchange, it has announced.
Commodities reshuffle at Morgan Stanley as Shapiro retires
Investment bank Morgan Stanley has reshuffled its commodity department, with head of commodities John Shapiro retiring.
Indianapolis hedges against escalating fuel prices
A fuel hedge and savings programme has netted the US city of Indianapolis over $39,000 during the month of June, according to a press release from the Mayor’s office.
Quant Congress: Models not to blame for stat arb crisis
Quantitative investment models were not responsible for the ructions in the statistical arbitrage sector in August 2007 and would, in fact, have proved extremely profitable should funds have weathered the storm, delegates at Quant Congress USA heard…
CFTC enforcement head returns to private sector
Gregory Mocek, head of the enforcement division at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has resigned to return to private practice.
Quant Congress: Bear Stearns breached structured credit limits, says former CRO
Defunct securities dealer Bear Stearns persistently breached its own internal limits governing how much structured credit paper the firm could hold on balance sheet in the months leading up to its collapse, the firm’s former head of risk management for…
World Bank tests water with Malawi drought risk trade
The World Bank will close a weather derivatives trade by October 1, a move intended to hedge the Malawian government against the financial risk of severe or catastrophic drought.
SEC says rating agencies failed to manage conflicts of interest
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€6 billion price tag outweighs benefits of PSD, says study
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T Boone launches wind power plan
Texas oilman T Boone Pickens has launched a plan to address the United States’ dependence on foreign oil by aiming to generate at least 20% of the nation’s energy supply through wind power.
Triple Point acquires ROME
Risk management software provider Triple Point has acquired credit risk management provider ROME.
Jet fuel futures contract takes off at MCX
Mumbai, India-based Multi-Commodities Exchange (MCX) has begun trading jet fuel futures contracts to help Indian airlines and refineries hedge against rising crude oil prices.
Liffe to clear credit derivatives in Q4
London-based derivatives exchange Liffe will begin clearing contracts linked to the Markit iTraxx indexes of European credit default swaps (CDSs) during the fourth quarter of 2008.
Q&A: Regulator calls for greater insurance against liquidity risk
Arthur Angulo, senior vice-president of banking supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and co-chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s Working Group on Liquidity, talks to Risk about recent initiatives to improve liquidity risk…
US mortgage lender closes doors after capital warning
Indymac Bancorp, one of the largest mortgage providers in the US, closed its doors to new business and announced deep job cuts yesterday, blaming the continuing crisis in the mortgage-backed securities market.
New credit heads at GFI
Credit derivatives brokerage GFI has named two new senior managers at its New York office.
Quant Congress: Gaussian copula "failing dramatically" in pricing CDOs
Gaussian copula distribution models are an overly simplistic and inadequate means of valuing tranches of collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) and other structured products, warned a senior quant yesterday.
Financial turmoil reports issued by the CGFS
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SEC streamlines rules for self-regulation
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