Private equity has come to dominate capital markets by means of debt-fuelled acquisitions. As a case study, we explore junk-rated insurance brokers using the Risky Finance corporate bond toolContinue Reading

Problems at life insurance giant MetLife show that the opaque system of US state-level insurance supervision is not fit for purpose.Continue Reading

A bet by insurer Allianz in 2012 to back German life and health liabilities with long-duration Italian government debt paid off handsomely in recent years but is looking risky again as the bonds plunge in the wake of the US presidential election. Italian government bonds with maturity above 15 years returned -7.5% in the first … Continue reading Allianz’s Italian ALM bet looks volatile →Continue Reading

Why can’t the ECB bring itself to stress test banks for deflation? I was thinking about this question when I remembered an episode from the past. Just over ten years ago, I took a train from Frankfurt to the sleepy spa town of Wiesbaden. It was the sort of place where a lone taxi is … Continue reading Niedrigzinsangst →Continue Reading

My story (with Elisa Martinuzzi) about Italy admitting it paid Morgan Stanley billions to unwind derivatives, and the UK newspaper coverage reporting on the alleged mis-selling of derivatives by banks like Barclays to small British companies, have something in common. Small British companies and Italy share an environment where both of them are finding it … Continue reading From the UK to Italy, an interest rate derivatives headache →Continue Reading