Opinion
‘Reauthorising’ CFTC could alter firms’ attitude to EU position limits
If the Commodity End-User Relief Act is passed, it could mean substantial industrial change in the US – and Europe
What lies beneath: attention lessons for risk managers
Allowing seemingly irrelevant problems to fester can lead to catastrophe. In many industries, particularly energy, risk managers should be better positioned to preempt disaster
Risk managers: beware conventional 'wisdom'
Why the consensus view so often fails to predict seismic shocks
Energy hedging is down but not out
Market conditions will change, bringing liquidity back
Coal contracts boom is a sign of desperation
Producers' turn to derivatives may be a last throw of the dice
Hidden risks for corporates in renewable energy PPAs
Buyers face load, covariance and basis risks in typical agreements
Position vacant: unpicking energy’s hidden contract risks
Complex, long-term supply deals present job opportunity for risk managers
Commodities may be a sweet spot for blockchain
Some aspects of commodity markets make them a natural fit for distributed ledger technology
When governments invent new markets, expect trouble
Price spikes in US ethanol credits highlight problems with fiat markets, Vincent Kaminski argues
No quants need apply: new trends in risk hiring
Soft skills are growing more important in the recruitment of risk managers, Dragana Pilipovic argues
What’s good for the City is bad for UK commodity firms
In effort to retain passporting, Brexit negotiators may sacrifice commodity traders
What a star 1,480 light years away can teach risk managers
Amateur astronomers’ discovery shows value of humans over algorithms, Vincent Kaminski writes
No need to be negative about negative prices
Electricity prices falling below zero are not a sign of end times, but a valid price signal
Teetering on the brink of the ‘energy cliff’
Declining ERoEI – energy return on energy invested – is a worrying trend, Vincent Kaminski argues
Beware the hype around analytics
As energy traders make greater use of big data, lessons of the past should not be forgotten
Transparency may be hazardous to your health
Esma should fine-tune Mifid II disclosure rules before they wreck markets
Climate change is the fattest tail risk of them all
Casting doubt on science is an unwise risk management strategy, Vincent Kaminski argues
An encouraging shift in Asian LNG
Changes brewing in Asia are a reminder that trading can be a social good
The shale revolution devours its children
After a few years of irrational exuberance, US oil drillers are feeling the pain
Quant Ideas: How VAR can add value to energy market analysis
Using traditional financial tools such as value-at-risk can improve market risk analysis in the energy sector
CFTC does the right thing on trade reporting
US regulator finally moves to clean up its own swap data mess
To assess liquidity risk, one must ask the right questions
A mathematician’s insight during World War II can help guide risk managers today
Quant Ideas: market-making, risk and information in commodities
Persistent low liquidity in commodity markets is the result of the fundamental interaction of high volatility and noisy data sets. This fact has profound implications for the theory and practice of risk management in commodity markets
How ‘Death Star’ and AIG sparked a new era in regulation
Ferc and the CFTC have overlearned the lessons of past crises, and energy traders are paying the price