Articles by Peter Madigan
Custody battle
Following the losses suffered in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, hedge funds are increasingly looking to place initial margin with bankruptcy-remote third-party custodians. But prime brokers are staunchly refusing to surrender…
Forex realignment
Many company treasury departments were slow to respond to rising volatility in the foreign exchange market, along with a shift in the direction of the US dollar last year. Are corporates changing their hedging policies in response? By Peter Madigan
The art of debt
Governments across the globe face huge increases in borrowing requirements, sparking concern over possible rating downgrades, while many have seen their credit default swap spreads widen dramatically. Despite this, sovereign debt management offices claim…
The bespoke conundrum
The dealer community has pushed towards standardisation of credit default swaps contracts, enabling them to meet a regulatory goal of ensuring a large chunk of the credit derivatives market is cleared through central counterparties. What implications…
The Bair necessities
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chairman Sheila Bair has argued that systemically important financial institutions should hold more capital as a disincentive to growth, while a new entity should be set up to manage the orderly resolution of…
With a bang
Isda's big bang protocol has standardised the credit default swap market, giving buy-side credit firms a voice but also stripping some flexibility from the market. However, the new regime is posing some challenges for end-users. Peter Madigan reports
The big clean-up
The US Treasury's Public-Private Investment Program aims to cleanse balance sheets of toxic assets and revive financial markets. But questions remain over who will participate, how assets will be priced and how big a dent the scheme will actually make on…
Power to the investors
Bruised investors are finally calling the shots in the hedge fund market as they seek to reallocate capital. With many now demanding greater liquidity, transparency and security, more of the business is likely to migrate to managed accounts. By Peter…
A return to structured products?
Structured products have been largely shunned since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, but low returns in other asset classes may prompt institutional investors to return to the sector in the year ahead. By Peter Madigan
Long overdue
New due diligence and risk weighting guidance for resecuritisations aims to prevent a repeat of the credit crisis, but should these measures have been included in the 2006 version of Basel II? By Peter Madigan
Misery for municipals
A year on from the collapse of the auction rate securities market, short-term variable-rate financing in the US remains scarce. In 2009, municipal issuers face surging costs and low interest rates most can't access. By Peter Madigan
Portal combat
The first central clearing houses for credit default swaps were expected to start business in December, but regulatory hold-ups delayed the launch in the US and are also causing issues in Europe. Although four ventures are planned, some dealers expect…
