Trading systems
The leaders of the pack!
Fourteen leading hedge funds and funds of hedge funds presented their case to attendees at Hedge Funds Review's Family Office Leadership Summit at the Dorchester Hotel in London, in mid-September. For those of you who may have missed their presentations,…
Mi presenti il suo interdealer
Alcuni primari hedge fund si sono fatti promotori quest'anno di una iniziativa volta ad ottenere l'accesso alle piattaforme interdealer per il trading delle opzioni su valuta. La proposta ha sollevato forti resistenze da parte delle banche, secondo cui…
Derivati su panieri azionari
Dopo aver sviluppato una serie di derivati su panieri azionari, Reuters esamina le tendenze e le sfide presenti sul mercato retail italiano per i prodotti strutturati
Not stressed enough
Recent turmoil in the US subprime mortgage market has seen mass downgrades, falling prices and a drying up of liquidity in the secondary market. Did banks' stress tests prepare them adequately and were scenario simulations up to the task? Clive Davidson…
No silver bullet
The emergence of contingent credit default swaps has presented banks with a new way to manage their counterparty credit exposures. However, they have important limitations, argues David Rowe
Dealing with volatility
BGC International hosted a roundtable in late August that brought together eight senior market players in Hong Kong, London, Singapore and Tokyo via video link-up to discuss the Asian structured credit market in the aftermath of the US subprime…
Ahead down under
With Basel II implementation nearing, the Australian banking system looks set to become one of the most advanced users of the new global risk framework, helped along by lessons learned from its past. By John Ferry
Lagging risk management
The rate of growth in the complexity of new derivatives products is causing a worrisome lag in risk management's ability to keep pace. As credit derivatives markets endure a period of stress, this lag could have serious consequences, argues David Rowe
Barclays goes online with iShare trading
Barclays Capital is now offering online trading of iShares via its award winning Barx investor solutions platform. Once enabled, clients will be able to instantly click and trade ishares. The benefits of trading on the platform include tighter spreads…
Matchmakers
Post-trade confirmation in the energy market, once slow and prone to error, is becoming increasingly efficient due to the successful rollout of trade confirmation standards. David Watkins looks at how two of the competing standards have developed
Is it really alpha?
Hedge funds often characterise their mission as the pursuit of pure alpha. A growing body of research, however, argues that a significant proportion of observed hedge fund returns are really alternative beta. David Rowe considers the implications for the…
Take me to your interdealer
A handful of major hedge funds have been pursuing a campaign this year to gain access to interdealer platforms for currency options trading. But there has been strong resistance from banks, which claim the funds will have an unfair advantage. Jayne Jung…
The responsive alternative...
Barclays Capital's Michael Brian explains hedge funds' nimbleness does put pressure on prime brokers to respond in kind but, as is the case with all rapidly changing industries, the cream does still rise to the top
The net widens
Grid computing is ubiquitous in investment banking, yet until now the energy trading and risk management space has been slow on the uptake. This looks set to change, reports David Watkins
The technology test
Talk of using straight-through processing with structured products usually elicits gasps of horror and scepticism in equal measure. But although squeezing such a complex product into a process management system has so far proved elusive, progress is…
SunGard brings out new asset-management product
SunGard launches product to cater to globalising asset management firms and their providers
ETG Capital opens energy hedge fund
Houston-based hedge fund firm ETG Capital Management has launched an energy fund.
Making up lost ground
After knocking JP Morgan off first place in 2005, Deutsche Bank has enjoyed an uninterrupted run at the top of Risk's institutional end-user rankings. But the US bank, which dropped to fourth place last year, has regained much of the lost ground
A cracked barrel?
Debate over the suitability of West Texas Intermediate as a benchmark crude resurfaces regularly, but recent price activity in the US oil contract – which influences the entire energy complex – is causing consternation. David Watkins reports
Islamic finance supplement - Sukuk: caveat emptor
Demand for Shariah-compliant investment opportunities is exploding, but is the global market for sukuk guilty of ignoring the risks? Philip Moore investigates
A dangerous idea
Encouraging and supporting sound internal risk management has become an important aspect of effective financial regulation. Imposing a regulatory capital charge for stress-test losses would undermine this important objective, argues David Rowe
Transatlantic regulatory convergence inches closer
Transatlatic regulatory convergence takes a step forwards at the EU-US Summit taking place in Washington DC today.