Foreign exchange
FFAs: rocking the boat?
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) plumbed the depths in early 2008, sinking from record highs in late 2007. Some have blamed derivatives market activity for the sharp fall. Roderick Bruce casts a beady eye over the BDI and asks where prices are heading next
Waiting in the wings
The long-mooted inclusion of the aviation sector in the European Union's emissions trading scheme is finally on the radar screen. Roderick Bruce discovers whether stakeholders are ready for take off
The prepay delay
Municipal natural gas prepayment deals withered in the second half of 2007 as a result of the credit crisis. While this year has seen a trickle of new deals, greater problems may be lurking. David Watkins reports
Peter Terium
Peter Terium, CEO of newly created RWE Supply & Trading, tells Roderick Bruce why he is the right man to lead the integrated business forward.
A changing carbon market climate
The EU Emissions Trading Scheme is stepping up a notch with a batch of new measures for its Third Phase. Andrew Holt finds out what carbon market participants think of the new proposals
Northern Rock nationalisation positive for bondholders
Holders of bonds issued by the Granite master trust will benefit from government ownership although questions remain over the vehicle's long-term future
A clearer picture
Fraud has gone to the top of the postmortem on the US subprime debacle. To detect and prevent it, more information at the loan level is needed, and the standardisation of data would also help investors in mortgage-backed securities make better decisions,…
Pimco's head of MBS sees upside in illiquid markets
Value to be found in private label mortgage securities where liquidity premiums greatest, says key investor
Modelling default rate in a retail portfolio and the estimation of portfolio risk
Considering correlation as the major driving factor for portfolio risk, Farshad Mashayekhi and Joy Wang present a methodology for the estimation of correlation among retail exposures based on historical default rates in pools of retail accounts. The…
Savings for the future
Deposits
Liquidity or bust?
Regulation
Freddie Mac gives private insurers a helping hand
US mortgage agency relaxes criteria to help private mortgage insurers rebuild capital reserves
Primed to recover
Netherlands
The case for the defence
Although the smallest of the big three agencies, Fitch Ratings is often perceived as the one that reacts fastest to market developments. Sarfraz Thind talked to Glenn Costello, co-head of US RMBS at Fitch in New York
From emerging to converging
Turkey
How fair is fair value?
Accounting
Improving outlook for covered bonds
Covered Bonds
An industry in search of a silver bullet
ASF Conference
US regulators turn their attention to negative equity
Rate cuts have alleviated worries about loan rate resets, only for a new concern to emerge
Banks slam structured finance accounting change
A revision in the way UK banks have to account for structured credit exposure has caused ripples in the market - at a time when financial institutions are crying out for a period of stability