Credit Suisse
Sponsor's article > Redefining risk methodology horizons
Research has suggested that banks may need to address issues not clarified by Basel II and take a long, hard look at whether accepted approaches to evaluating credit risk are adequate. As part of its strategic forum series, SunGard's Panorama business…
HSBC’s purchase of Household triggered credit rally, according to BoA
Bank of America (BoA) has used its new credit risk model to show, quantitatively, how HSBC’s proposed purchase of Household International, announced last Thursday, sparked a credit rally.
C&W protection costs widen 200bp following restructuring talk
The cost of credit protection on debt of UK telecommunications company Cable and Wireless (C&W) has widened by more than 200 basis points since its revealed late Wednesday that it would cut 3,500 jobs, undergo a major restructuring and reassess its off…
Basel II will lead to more instability, critic argues
LONDON - The Basel II bank capital accord will result in more banking instability and more pro-cyclicality, where bank actions taken in response to solvency rules reinforce economic and market cycles, a leading critic of the accord said in October.
Unsystematic credit risk
Although Basel has shifted its treatment of unsystematic credit risk from the first, capital rules pillar (where it was called the ‘granularity adjustment’) to the second, supervisory pillar of the forthcoming Accord, this issue is of great practical…
Sponsor's article > Basel II and pro-cyclicality
The main argument for making regulatory capital requirements more risk-sensitive is to improve allocational efficiency. But this may lead to intensified business cycles if regulators fail to take measures to prevent such an impact.
New US online options exchange announces investors
The Boston Options Exchange (BOX), a venture of the Boston Stock Exchange, has announced investment stakes by Credit Suisse First Boston, JP Morgan Chase, Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Warburg. The size of the investments was undisclosed.
Equities rally brings in cost of US and European debt protection
A strong rebound in world equity markets during the early part of this week has caused the cost of credit protection on US and European institutions to markedly narrow. The contraction in credit spreads this week nearly matched the widening seen last…
BofA develops new credit risk model
Bank of America is developing a sophisticated model that uses derivatives data to help asset managers get a better handle on credit risk within their portfolios.
JP Morgan Chase snatches Asia Risk’s house of the year award
JP Morgan Chase has won RiskNews ' sister publication Asia Risk 's derivatives house of the year award, while also picking up its prize for credit derivatives house of the year – an accolade it has held since the magazine began publishing its awards…
Avoiding pro-cyclicality
David Cosandey and Urs Wolf argue that, for small to medium-sized enterprises, Basel II is pro-cyclical because of a double-counting of the risks. They present two main directions for possible capital rules that would circumvent the pro-cyclicality…
Protection spreads on European bank debt begin to narrow
The cost of credit protection for European banks started to contract this morning following a week of unprecedented spread widening across the sector.
Commerzbank credit protection costs double in a week
The cost of credit protection for Commerzbank has nearly doubled over the last week. The widening follows rumours of large credit derivatives trading losses at the German bank and a cut in its long-term credit rating from A to A- yesterday from Standard …
CSFB launches fixed-income indexes on Bloomberg
Swiss bank Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) has released its Liquid Global fixed-income indexes on data vendor Bloomberg's data terminals. CSFB clients will be able to access all of CSFB's liquid bond indexes, including the Liquid US Corporate Index …
Credit spreads for European financial debt protection widen
The cost of credit protection for European banks has widened significantly this week as negative fundamentals dominated market sentiment. Five-year credit default swaps for major European banks widened between 1 to 10 basis points for senior protection…
CSFB reorganises derivatives structuring teams in Asia
Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) has reorganised its derivatives structuring teams in Asia in an effort to more closely integrate all areas of the business. As part of the move, the various derivatives structuring groups will now report to a single head…
Lehman Brothers hires Asian head of equities
Lehman Brothers has hired Timothy Throsby as managing director and head of equities for Asia.
Lazard hires Stonehill to build capital markets business
The investment banking unit of New York-headquartered Lazard has hired Charles Stonehill as London-based global head of its capital markets businesses, a newly created position.
US credit protection narrows following Wall Street equity rally
The price of credit default swaps for major US names tightened this week following two days of equity purchasing on Wall Street.
Letter to the Editor: Forbearance measures needed for Basel II
Wilson Ervin and I published an article in Risk last year on the danger that the Basel II proposed reforms of bank capital will lead to procyclicality, ie, pressure on banks to sell assets or raise capital at inopportune times, due to the risk…
US agency forms working group on Basel II’s third pillar
A working group of financial services industry members and regulators is being formed by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to recommend a four-point disclosure policy for the third pillar of the Basel II bank Accord.
BBSP launches FX implied volatility forecasting
French technical analyst forecasting company BBSP has launched a service that charts and forecasts implied volatilities for currencies, officials at the firm said.
DrKW names Harata new head of rates trading in Tokyo
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has hired Jun Harata as managing director and head of interest rate derivatives trading in Japan.
A cost/benefit approach to Basel II
The cost of implementing Basel II could put banks at a competitive disadvantage compared with non-banks, and spur them to ‘de-bank’ to avoid this regulatory burden. Harry Stordel and Andrew Cross say regulators must look at the provisions from a cost…