Enterprise risk
Massad sees exchange role in policing CFTC position limits
US exchanges could stay in charge of granting bona fide hedge exemptions to end-users as part of the new federal position limits regime, CFTC chairman suggests
Applied risk management series: Counterparty risk exposure metrics
The use of static counterparty exposure metrics, which provide an incomplete view of the risk of individual deals and portfolios, may lead risk managers to take decisions with unintended consequences. Carlos Blanco outlines a better approach using…
EU commodity trading firms face capital punishment
Imposing CRD IV capital rules on trading houses, utilities and oil majors carries huge costs and makes no sense
Former enforcement chief takes top job at Ferc
BAML promotes Ahmad to co-head; Coolidge leaves Velite; Black joins Wells Fargo; StanChart loses sales head; Freepoint adds oil traders
Bulgaria power market faces challenges, conference told
Bulgaria's electricity market is being hampered by poor transparency, export fees and market structure, heard delegates at Energy Risk Balkans
BNP Paribas's Flax calm about impact of regulation
Regulation is making life more difficult for bank commodity desks, but Catherine Flax, BNP Paribas's head of commodity derivatives for the Americas, is keeping a cool head
EU capital requirements worry commodity trading firms
The finalisation of Mifid II in Europe has rekindled a debate over whether commodity trading firms should be subject to capital requirements. Firms are lobbying strongly against the idea, but regulators and the European Commission will have the final say
Practitioners must take risk measures with a pinch of salt
While useful, it is possible to rely too heavily on conventional risk measures such as volatility and value-at-risk – a point made recently by billionaire US investor Warren Buffett. Every aspiring practitioner should know about their drawbacks, writes…
Icap Energy’s Francis wrestles with regulatory change
Icap Energy's new head of energy and commodities in Europe faced tough decisions in his first few months of the job
IEA, IEF and Opec probe role of markets in oil crash
The impact of US shale oil, financial speculation and bank commodity exits was high on the agenda at a joint meeting held by the IEA, IEF and Opec in Vienna
EU and US position limits will hit the wrong target
Dodd-Frank and Mifid II won't stop market disorder but will penalise hedgers
Bank and investor exodus worsened oil rout, traders say
The role of financial trading in the recent collapse of crude oil has added a new twist to the old debate over the impact of speculation on commodity markets. Did retreating index investors, short-selling momentum traders and risk-averse banks exacerbate…
End-users press Congress for Dodd-Frank fixes
US commodity firms blast the CFTC over hedge exemptions to position limits, as Congress launches the process of writing legislation to reauthorise the agency
Right-way risk can create a false sense of security
Dealers typically find comfort in right-way correlations between their exposure to energy sector counterparties and the creditworthiness of such companies. While this reasoning is unquestionably correct, it may create a false sense of security, writes…
Vitol veteran Preston joins energy brokerage
Cornerstone Global Commodities builds its new commodity financing business with addition of Vitol’s Africa business development head
Iosco likely to act on commodity storage concerns
The role of warehouses and other storage facilities in commodity derivatives is likely to be targeted in new Iosco principles, or a more rigorous application of existing ones, says a senior regulator
US record-keeping rule hits commodity derivatives end-users
Changes to CFTC rules following the US Dodd-Frank Act are forcing end-users to retain piles of pre-trade communications and other business records. The commission has moved to relax the burden on end-users, but companies are still grumbling about the red…
Goldman and Citi defy gravity on commodity VAR
Commodity VAR at Citi and Goldman Sachs stays about the same or increases from 2012–2014, as other major dealers pare back
Commodities regulation since the financial crisis
Risk.net presents an interactive timeline looking at major regulatory developments affecting commodity markets since the global financial crisis of 2008
Energy Risk Software Rankings 2015
Energy Risk conducted a survey in which it asked energy trading firms to nominate their top ETRM vendors, implementation specialists, data vendors and data managers during December 2014 and January 2015. We present the top ranked firms below
Quant ideas: Building a better LNG forward curve
A robust suite of liquefied natural gas (LNG) forward curves is an important prerequisite for the proper valuation and risk measurement of LNG portfolios. This article provides an overview of effective methods for constructing long-term LNG forward price…
Metals traders shun clearing due to Emir, says LME chief
Emir's introduction of segregated clearing accounts is pushing firms towards trading OTC, says LME head Garry Jones
CFTC reveals members of rebooted energy committee
Koch eyes global expansion; Mercuria names Good CFO; BTG Pactual suffers departures; Trafigura hires CFO in Houston; Quantum CEO moves on; Birol picked for top IEA job
Republicans in Congress set to push Dodd-Frank fixes
With Republicans now in control of both houses of the US Congress, energy firms and other derivatives end-users are hoping for new legislation to ease some of the more troublesome aspects of the US Dodd-Frank Act. Their optimism is justified - up to a…