Risk magazine
Tokio Marine adds to 'cherry blossom' derivatives
Japan's Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance has added an extra hedge to its 'cherry blossom' derivatives contracts linked to the country’s spring temperatures, said an official at the insurance firm in Tokyo.
FSA decision prompts tightening for insurers’ credit spreads
The cost of protection for the European insurance sector has tightened by up to 15bp in trading this week following a decision by UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to ease regulatory solvency requirements for individual life assurers.
Nationalisation required for Japanese bank recovery, says Fitch
A partial nationalisation of Japan’s ailing banks may be the only way to resolve the country’s economic woes, with recent efforts by individual institutions to restructure their balance sheets unlikely to lead to an autonomous recovery in the banking…
TriOptima’s swap tear-up service readies for March launch
TriReduce, an interest rate swaps tear-up service developed by Stockholm-headquartered TriOptima, may start its first run in late March, following a delay of about three months due to documentation and technology hook-up issues.
MBIA reports $82 million unrealised loss mainly due to synthetic CDOs
New York-based monoline insurer MBIA said the largest negative impact on its income during 2002 arose from its synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) investments. The majority of its total mark-to-market unrealised loss of $82 million was…
Front and Evolution formalise co-marketing agreement
Front Capital Systems, a provider of risk management technology, and UK consultancy firm Evolution today formalised an agreement to market each other's products.
Germany’s DZ Bank takes €100 million-plus swaps hit
DZ Bank, the largest central co-operative bank in Germany, has made significant trading losses from its zero-coupon interest rate swaps positions.
Merrill touts restructuring strategy
US investment bank Merrill Lynch is advising investors to 'buy restructuring' as part of their credit portfolio strategy, according to a new report, 'Credit Derivatives Protection Strategies'.
Euronext.Liffe launches one-month eonia futures
Euronext.Liffe launched its new one-month eonia (euro overnight index average interest rate) futures contract this morning.
No place for government in energy price reporting or clearing, says Ferc head
Pat Wood, chairman of the US Federal Energy Commission (Ferc), has said he does not believe regulatory agencies should be involved in compiling energy price reporting. He also said the government has no place in suggesting that energy merchants should…
The world turns to hedging
Introduction
GFI outsources non-core software development offshore
Inter-dealer broker and technology developer GFI has launched a pilot project to explore the opportunities of moving some of its IT development offshore. The move largely applies to non-core development work.
Deutsche Bank Brazil appoints head of global markets
Deutsche bank has hired Daniel Luiz Gleizer, a former deputy governor for international affairs at the central bank of Brazil, as managing director and head of its global markets division in Brazil.
Barclays merges FX/FI prime brokerage
Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of the UK’s Barclays Bank, will complete the merger of its foreign exchange and fixed-income prime brokerage businesses by the end of March.
Shift in risk sentiment shores up Australian options market
A change in risk sentiment, coupled with major underlying spot moves in local currencies, is bringing extra foreign exchange options business to Australia, according to local dealers.
Bridging the deficit gap
Municipal derivatives
Powering up at the AfDB
Systems
Fannie and Freddie:
Agency Q&A
Hedging the world
The World Bank
Brisker business
Sovereign debt hedging
Italy's latest twist on securitisation
Public finance
Explaining big events
The expression ‘this month’s once-in-a-million event’ has become a cliché in finance. From the sudden bankruptcy of investment-grade companies to 5% daily moves in foreign exchange markets, we’ve seen them all. Rare events – which for practitioners mean …
What causes crashes?
Are large market events caused by easily identifiable exogenous shocks such as major newsevents, or can they occur endogenously, without apparent external cause, as an inherent propertyof the market itself? Here, Didier Sornette, Yannick Malevergne and…
From horses to hedging
Financial derivatives rely on liquid underlying markets to work properly, but what happenswhen such underlying markets do not exist, as is the case for indexes such as GDP orunemployment? Here, Ken Baron and Jeffrey Lange suggest a parimutuel auction…