Exchanges
A new twist to ABS
Synthetic securitisation
Rising levels of interest
Interest rate derivatives
The Basle II capital accord: op risk proposals in brief
BASLE II UPDATE
New York disaster recovery was flawed, says IBM
WORLD TRADE CENTER AFTERMATH
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
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.
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…
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.
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…
Job moves
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: - “I can’t get rid of the stupid thing” Lev Borodovsky, co-founder of Garp, describing difficulties negotiating a transfer of ownership Source: RiskNews, January 16
The missing piece
Thailand
Surviving the downturn
Comment
Sempra Energy Trading acquires Enron Metals
Sempra Energy Trading, the Connecticut-based gas, power and petroleum dealer, is to acquire Enron Metals in a $145 million cash deal.
CBOT explores re-launch of corporate bond futures
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) is exploring market interest in a new corporate bond index futures contract, and will decide whether to draft contract specifications within the next few weeks, according to Julie Winkler, a senior economist involved…
SocGen, Citi in first North American warrants push
Citibank and Société Générale are set to sell the first warrants to the North American retail market when they start trading them via the Bourse de Montréal, Canada’s financial derivatives exchange, on Monday.
Weather derivatives set for emerging markets
A joint venture between the World Bank and US energy company Aquila is set to broaden the growing weather derivatives sector into emerging markets for the first time.
Market upbeat as WeatherRisk 2002 opens
The WeatherRisk 2002 conference in New York opened today in upbeat mood, with speakers predicting strong future growth in the market despite the pull out of two leading weather derivatives trading firms, Enron and BNP Paribas.