Risk institutional investor rankings 2009

Dealer bankruptcies, government intervention, unprecedented volatility and a dearth of liquidity have made the past 12 months among the most challenging for institutional investors. In this difficult environment, investors have voted Goldman Sachs the top provider of derivatives for 2009. By Christopher Whittall, with research by Xiao-Long Chen

Back in October, things were looking pretty dicey for derivatives dealers and their clients. Lehman Brothers had gone bust on September 15, causing frenzied speculation as to which bank would follow. Stock markets plunged, with financial institutions especially hard hit, and liquidity all but evaporated, forcing governments around the world to intervene to inject capital into the markets and prop up ailing banks.

For those clients that had outstanding trades on with Lehman, the collapse of the