 Awards for Excellence 2010 |
|
| Best Global short-term debt house: Goldman Sachs | |
| Also nominated: Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan |
It has been another challenging year in the short-term debt markets. Regulatory uncertainty together with persistent volatility in funding and liquidity conditions mean that the market still faces substantial challenges. "It is unbelievable that two years down the road in this credit crisis we still have many similar problems," muses Rob Wall, global co-head of short-term interest rates at Goldman Sachs. But the bank has shown itself particularly adept at dealing with this situation this year.
A continuing challenge for any debt house is to keep ahead of the regulators and innovate to meet changes in market practice. Goldman has mitigated the impact of the revised 2a7 money fund rules in the US with its Senior Liquidity Unit, a note structure that was designed to provide funds with seven-day liquidity but give the issuer a degree of placement – for up to 13 months. The bank has also introduced a structure to provide flexibility under Basle III’s liquidity coverage ratio by incorporating a call option.