Buckle up

With little chance of a return to bullish financial markets and a prolonged housing market downturn in the offing, the UK looks set for a bumpy ride. RBS Debt Markets trader Mark Walker explains why risk-mitigation strategies should be moving up your agenda

On our desk we trade many types of structured mortgage-related derivatives, right up to the risk transfer of whole loan portfolios using derivatives. Consequently, our market exposures, interests and risks are similar to those of mortgage-lending professionals. I hope the observations in this article will prove to be a useful analysis of recent movements in the sterling interest rate markets.

The past two months have seen continued turbulent times in all markets. Equity markets have tumbled