Risk magazine
The Risk 2002 commodity & energy derivatives rankings
Volatile energy markets, plummeting metals prices, September 11 and the implosion of Enron: 2001 was an eventful year for the commodity and energy derivatives markets. Kevin Foster and John Ferry introduce our annual rankings of dealers and brokers
Credit portfolio products proliferate
Large fixed-income investors want to take or shed sizeable diversified credit positions efficiently, without incurring lot cost or liquidity risk. Dealers are responding with a variety of new products. But which will succeed?
Awake at the wheel
While the markets worried that Dynegy could follow Enron into the abyss, Glenn Labhart’s risk management team helped to keep the trading firm out of trouble.
Icap launches reset risk competitor to Switchfix
Interest rate swap trading desks now have an alternative method of eliminating reset risk, courtesy of a new online matching system developed by Icap, the UK interdealer broker, called Fra-Cross.
SG equity derivatives team unaffected by Asia restructuring
SG Securities Asia’s (SGSA), the Asian equities arm of French bank Société Générale, said plans to realign its operations in Asia – ex-Japan and Australia – will not affect its equity derivatives team, according to a spokesperson in Hong Kong. The bank…
Japan resumes NPLs reduction drive
The Resolution and Collection Corporation (RCC), entrusted by the Japanese government to help reduce Japanese banks’ major non-performing loan (NPL) problems, has concluded its first securitisation deal this year. An RCC spokesperson said the transaction…
Oldest US exchange looks to energy futures
Merchants Exchange, the oldest commodity exchange in the US, plans to offer energy futures contracts for the first time. The move follows an increase in demand for cleared contracts following the bankruptcy of Enron, although Merchants Exchange said it…
Directors divided on audit reform
US corporate directors want more transparency in the reporting of derivatives positions, but are divided over how best to monitor external auditing in the wake of Enron’s fall, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Corporate…
CBOT launches X-Funds
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) today launched X-Funds, short-duration futures contracts that track the performance of a professionally selected index.
Turbo-charged models
Derivatives dealers get a substantial edge if they can model and price positions faster than their competitors. So system vendors are seeking to rev up the Monte Carlo simulation engines that power many of their analytics.
Collateralised loan obligations
Enron’s bankruptcy highlighted the problems that the lack of portfolio transparency and diversification in the collateralised loan obligation (CLO) market causes investors. Barrie Wilkinson and Andrew Kuritzkes of Oliver, Wyman & Co argue a ‘multi-bank…
