Rate risks redux

The global corporate credit environment began to plummet nearly three years ago. Since then, credit risk has been the risk management community’s obsession. But events over the past few months have again highlighted the hazards of interest rate risk.

ALM managers have been battered by the interest rate market since rates began their descent from their 40-year lows in mid-June. Portfolio hedging by those in the mortgage ALM business was partly to blame for the market meltdown at the end of July. While the causes and consequences of the reversal in the rates market have been widely discussed, its knock-on effects on those investors seeking to reallocate their portfolios could be profound.

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