Derivatives
Bailout time for SIVs
Investors are watching eagerly as banks unveil plans to restructure their ailing SIVs. Hardeep Dhillon looks at the various schemes and how they affect the proposed M-LEC 'super-SIV'
Hedge funds: The bargain hunters
There are rich pickings to be had amongst the ruins of the summer's ravaged credit markets: hedge funds that survived the crisis are now putting together funds to invest in the wide availability of cheap securities. Nikki Marmery meets the executives at…
Q&A - Rohan Douglas
The founder and CEO of Quantifi, the structured credit modelling and risk analysis firm, talks about the effects of the summer's volatility on the structured finance market, in particular how existing models have fared against the turmoil
All fall down - What's the next move for structured credit?
Banks are still counting the cost of the summer's credit crisis yet thoughts are already turning to what shape the structured credit market may take after the recent catastrophe. Are we looking at a new market paradigm or will things be the same as…
Chinese bank picks credit limits provider
Chinese bank monitors exposures as it prepares to build out in derivatives
The CDO manager hit parade
With nearly 300 CDO managers plying their trade in today's global markets, investors are hard-pressed to decide who's top of the pops and who's a one-hit wonder. Rachel Wolcott speaks to influential investors to find out which managers they really rate
Future options
Operational risk derivatives have been touted for a few years now, but interest in them moves in waves. The current tide is high, however. Duncan Wood tests the water
BIS publishes OTC derivatives market report
BIS: CDS growth still strong
Has Asia got the appetite for local currency CDS?
The development of a robust local currency credit default swap market in Asia has come a step closer following the first public won-denominated CDS trade in Korea late last year. Alice Hales looks at whether the ingredients are there for such a market to…
The race to launch credit futures
Eurex, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange are locked in a struggle for market share of the new credit futures market. But are investors really sold on the new instruments? Matthew Attwood finds out
Subprime: the burning issue for CDO investors
As the outlook for the US mortgages sector goes from bad to worse, which CDOs, investors, and dealers will be left holding a hot potato? Matthew Attwood finds out
Legal eagles
Clifford Chance has been ranked number one in the first annual OpRisk & Compliance survey of law firms engaged in risk and compliance activities for financial services firms. But as the results attest, risk and compliance is a hot area for global law…
Gearing up for ever higher leverage
Rising leverage in the global system coupled with fears for the accuracy of credit risk pricing dominated discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos this year. But not everyone is downbeat, as Matthew Attwood finds out
Back to basics
We take you back to the credit basics to review everything you thought you already knew but were too afraid to ask ... Juan-Carlos Martorell, director in structured credit marketing at ABN Amro in London explains the mechanics of CPDOs
CDS documentation
Market graphic
Reinventing the wheel
The new wave of structured credit innovations look suspiciously like more confusing, highly leveraged versions of deals the market has seen before. Is all this reinvention in investors' best interests? Sarfraz Thind reports
BIS announces a fall in banks’ derivatives positions
The positive market value of banks’ derivatives positions fell by $214 billion in three months last year, as banks became warier of leverage.
False dawn for first loss
CDO equity
Robert Lepone
The head of European loan trading at Morgan Stanley in London discusses issues surrounding the new loan CDS indices
CPDOs: A volatility game
A triple-A rated structure that pays Libor plus 200bp. Who wouldn't be interested in such a product? Perhaps the sceptics warning against the 15 times leverage and the instrument's high exposure to volatility. Laurence Neville reports
FASB suggests more in-depth derivatives reporting
The US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued a proposal for more rigorous reporting of derivatives in financial statements.
Is da documentation working?
CDS on CDOs
The great CDS debate which corner are you in?
Credit default swaps have become the instrument of choice for scores of credit investors - both for risk management and as another way to get exposure to credit. Yet there still remains a hardcore of sophisticated clients who continue to avoid CDS out of…
Taiwan's CDO explosion
Since its launch in 2005, Taiwan's CDO market has been surprisingly buoyant. But with investors reaching saturation point, is the market nearing its natural limits? Hardeep Dhillon investigates