Foreign exchange
SG offers yen warrants to UK retail investors
Société Générale has listed 10 new FX-linked covered warrants on the London Stock Exchange. The warrants fluctuate in value according to the exchange rate between either the Japanese yen against sterling, or against the US dollar.
US Wrap: Reverse convertibles hold sway as underlying scope widens
Reverse convertibles dominated US issuance on Friday, as did Barclays Bank, which issued 13 of the notes. Alongside the usual smattering of energy companies, two gold producers were included - a different perspective from investing in the precious metal…
Barcap offers new accounts for offshore bond series
Barclays Capital has launched two new structured deposit accounts for its offshore bond series: the three-year guaranteed digital and the five-year guaranteed FTSE 100 deposit accounts. The accounts are designed exclusively for use within offshore bonds…
Yen weakens as carry trades unwind, yen and equities decorrelate
The unwinding of yen carry trades and the de-correlation of the yen with equity markets, as well as wider economic factors, have all been linked to the yen's decline over the past month.
US to restructure AIG bailout after $61.7 billion Q4 loss
Marking the largest corporate quarterly loss in US history, today AIG reported that it lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. It blamed disruption in the credit markets, particularly within its commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS)…
Lehman likely to recoup value of derivatives trades
Counterparties to derivatives trades with Lehman Brothers that are currently in-the-money for the bankrupt estate will not be able to hold off payment indefinitely, predict lawyers.
Adapt or fail
Since October last year, extreme movements in South Africa's foreign exchange rate have caused offshore hedge funds to exit the market, while dealers have been reluctant to take on risk. Those that remain active have had to adapt their behaviour. By Mark…
Just another tool in the box
Credit ratings
ASF 2009 highlights challenges for securitisation market
The annual conference for securitisation professionals, held in Las Vegas, showed that the industry is under no illusions about the difficulties it is currently going through, but that there is a collective will to turn the situation round. Mark Kahn of…
Crunch time for autos
The world's carmakers are battling for survival. Should bondholders shun the sector or is there value in the firms best placed to beat the recession? Nikki Marmery reports
ASF 2009 highlights challenges for securitisation market
The annual conference for securitisation professionals, held in Las Vegas, showed that the industry is under no illusions about the difficulties it is currently going through, but that there is a collective will to turn the situation round. Mark Kahn of…
Swap shop
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, under its chief executive Bob Pickel (right), is the trade body for dealers of, amongst other things, credit derivatives. As such, Pickel and his members are at the centre of a storm raging around the…
Dealers and regulators: Who will blink first?
High noon for CDS Clearing
What to do with the toxic debt
The issue of how to tackle the vast quantities of impaired assets lingering on banks' balance sheets has given rise to several possible solutions, chief among which is the notion of a 'bad bank'. Credit asks five market participants how such a scheme…
From alpha to omega
The standard measures of credit risk do not efficiently capture the possible distribution of losses on a portfolio. But the Omega function may provide a solution for investors. Gene Yeboah
Rick Watson
Securitisation has been damned as the carrier that took the subprime contagion to institutions across the world, but the head of the European Securitisation Forum insists that the real economy needs this funding source more than ever. Matthew Attwood…
Lehman counterparty hold-outs warned to pay up on credit derivatives contracts
Counterparties may find that the legal process is stacked against them if they continue to resist payment of outstanding derivatives contracts with the bankrupt Lehman Brothers, say lawyers