Search results for

Belief that a single number can capture the degree of risk being taken within a bank or an investment is mistaken, especially when that number is value at risk. Markus Leippold explains why the measure is flawed, points to the dangers of its widespread acceptance by regulators and investors, and suggests an alternative.

Rating agency Moody's Investors Service has detailed the effects it expects to see on European corporate credit ratings from the introduction of International Accounting Standards in January next year.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is offering UK retail investors a new way into hedge funds by launching the country's first certificates tracking a hedge fund index. These certificates will track the HFRX Global Index, HFR's investable index, and can be traded on the London Stock Exchange. DrKW believes that they offer retail investors an efficient and accessible way into hedge fund performance at a lower cost and for smaller amounts. "We offer daily liquidity and T+3 settlement so the trackers can be traded like equities," says Shahzad Sadique, UK head of covered warrants at DrKW.

Luis Valls, the former co-chairman of Banco Popular, was reflecting on his decision to step down from his post last month. "I've often discussed with politicians the theory that if you face unavoidable decisions early then you can avoid periods of instability," he said. "That is good for the health of the organization as much as it is for oneself."

Guarding against hedge fund fraud

There's not much hedge fund managers won't do to raise money and become stars – and not just in working hours.

When Serbian president Boris Tadic shook hands with Croatian counterpart Stjepan Mesic at a Euromoney conference last month, the sense of history was palpable. This was the first time these two heads of states had met. It was also the first time that a Serbian president had visited Dubrovnik since the historic Croatian port city was badly damaged by shelling during the Yugoslav civil war in October 1991.

French government and state agency issues have driven France's bond markets this year, with index-linked bonds taking a healthy share. Corporate issuance has been meagre by comparison, but loan markets have been active, M&A looks set to recover and IPOs have performed well, with a solid foundation of privatization issues.

African economies are in a growth phase, thanks in large part to rising commodity prices. Sustained growth, though, depends on industrialization and that in turn depends on much higher levels of foreign investment. Anything near adequate funding is a long way off but there are at last encouraging signs of capital market development in some sub-Saharan countries.

Getting regulators to understand complex industries is hard. Insurance companies are finding it harder than most. They are concerned current accounting proposals don't reflect their basic business model, let alone regional and product differences.

Current data suggest a gradual tailing off of the house price boom is likely in OECD countries. But there's still room for a sharp decline that could fuel recession and have a serious impact on overstretched banking systems and agency lenders.

Following more than a decade of stagnation, the world's second-largest equity market has revived this year. Although the key index, the Nikkei 225, is currently flat year to date, the market has bounced back throughout the year such that at one point the index was up more than 17% from its opening levels. The encouraging performance coupled with more volatility has fuelled a recovery in Japan's IPO market that shows few signs of abating.