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"RiskNews Update" <listadmin@riskwaters.com> on 03/02/2001 12:30:06 PM
To: List Member <vkamins@enron.com>
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Subject: - latest RiskNews Update - 02/03/2001


RiskNews Update - http://www.RiskNews.net

RiskNews Update - http://www.risknews.net/

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RiskNews Update - week ending 02/03/2001
http://www.RiskNews.net
News for derivatives and risk management professionals
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Dear Subscriber,

Welcome to RiskNews Update!

An innovative Argentine bond issue that gained an above-sovereign rating,
Enron,s moves to create a European bandwidth boom, further clever
catastrophe protection from Swiss Re and awareness of a potential increase
in institutional trading costs through the decimalisation of US equity
markets represented some of the key headlines this week.

The political risk insurance deal was put together by Sovereign Risk
Insurance, a Bermuda-based joint venture between ACE and XL Insurance,
which raised Argentina,s Salta Hydrocarbon Royalty Trust,s note issue to
investment grade debt. Notably, the ranking was higher than Argentina,s
sovereign rating. Given the Basel Committee,s endorsement, similar deals
are likely to emerge elsewhere.

Enron, meanwhile, believes a liquid European bandwidth market will emerge
within a year. The US firm is significantly ramping up its European energy
operations.

Swiss Re, which first put together earthquake protection deals in
California in 1997, has developed yet another innovative reinsurance and
investment capital deal to give $100 million protection to policyholders
of the California Earthquake Authority.

Meanwhile, the move to decimalisation and minimum price increments of one
penny in the US equity markets could result in an overall decline in
market liquidity and higher costs for institutional client trades
according to research by US investment bank Goldman Sachs (see top story).

Christopher Jeffery
Editor, RiskNews

Tel: 44 (0)20 7484 9880
mailto:cjeffery@riskwaters.com

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RiskNews Update - 02/03/01

Headlines/ Technology and Exchanges/ People/ Events

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Headlines - 02/03/2001
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2 March ) The move to decimalisation and minimum price increments of one
penny in the US equity markets could result in an overall decline in
market liquidity, and higher costs for institutional client trades.

2 March - London-based online risk consulting boutique Reech Capital has
acquired French derivatives consultancy and application services provider
services firm Netquant

2 March - Swiss Re New Markets and Goldman Sachs have used a combination
of reinsurance and investment capital to arrange $100 million in funds
that would be made available to California Earthquake Authority
policyholders in the event of one or more earthquakes during the next 23
months

1 March - Enron Broadband Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Houston-based electricity, gas and communications company, Enron
Corporation, has launched online bandwidth trading in Europe

28 February - BNP Paribas Commodity Futures, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas,
has launched a 24-hour energy futures and options brokerage service

28 February - Morgan Stanley Capital International has launched its new
real-time index service, which includes indexes for derivative products
that are updated every 15 seconds and are designed specifically for trading

27 February - Rumblings that China is planning to widen the trading band
of the renminbi or break its peg with the US dollar have gone on for
years, but People's Bank of China officials recently appear to have been
testing the market's reaction

26 February - Sovereign Risk Insurance, a Bermuda-based joint venture
between ACE and XL Insurance, has sold a political risk insurance policy
that will raise an emerging markets bond issue from sub-investment grade
to investment grade

26 February - The International Swaps and Derivatives Association is
launching a new credit derivatives committee to deal with issues related
to trading practices

To read more now, click http://www.risknews.net

*******************************************************************
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copy (worth $27). Additionally, take advantage of our LIMITED SUBSCRIPTION
OFFER and save 25% off if you subscribe before 30 April 2001. You will
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Technology and Exchanges - 02/03/2001
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2 March - The European Energy Exchange (EEX) yesterday launched Germany's
first electricity futures market, ahead of rival Leipzig Power Exchange
(LPX), which plans to introduce a competitor service within the next few
months

2 March - The Chicago Board Options Exchange, the world's largest options
exchange, will launch its new screen-based trading system, CBOEdirect, at
the beginning of June

1 March - Goldman Sachs has added online exotic FX options in five
currency pairs to its WebET internet trading system

1 March - Dublin-based alternative trading and asset management firm
Greenhouse Capital Management is to replace its back-office risk
management systems with futures and options software developed by France's
Ubitrade, formerly known as ATSM

1 March - Eurex's electronic trading platform has started auctioning repos
in the form of Swiss-registered money-market claims and Swiss federal bonds

28 February - Global over-the-counter derivatives electronic brokerage
Icor, which has been beaten to market by chief rival Volbroker, has
received a significant cash injection from the alternative investment fund
unit of US insurance broker Arthur J Gallagher

27 February - Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is building its online foreign
exchange dealing capacity using Cognotec's AutoDeal Lite service

26 February - Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) plans to strengthen
its control of the credit and counterparty risk in its portfolios of
assets under management by licensing an integrated risk management
software package called Risk Vision from MKIRisk

26 February - The European securities arm of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi,
Tokyo-Mitsubishi International, is to use risk management software
supplied by Canada's Algorithmics to manage its collateral risk for its
derivatives trading activities

To read more now, click http://www.risknews.net

*******************************************************************
Have you seen the results of the joint Energy & Power Risk Management/Risk
magazines' over-the-counter commodity derivative rankings? What have been
the big changes in the past 12 months? Click here for online coverage:
http://www.EPRMonline.com

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People - 02/03/2001
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2 March - BNP Paribas has appointed Sylvie Durham as head of corporate
equity derivative products for North America. In the newly created
position, Durham will be responsible for originating and marketing
structured equity products for BNP Paribas' corporate client base

2 March - US investment bank Merrill Lynch has hired 10 new derivatives
and capital market executives in its EMEA region, to boost its presence in
a series of potential growth areas

1 March - New York-based trading and risk management software provider
Summit Systems has appointed Joseph Bruno as its new director of sales, in
an effort to concentrate on the sales side of the business

1 March - Tony McCormick, vice-president of derivatives markets at Charles
Schwab, has been appointed to the board of directors at the Chicago Board
Options Exchange

28 February - Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the investment banking arm
of Germany's Dresdner Bank, has appointed David Schwartz, Richard Fedrick,
Sylvie Botter and Roland Toussaint to its global debt derivatives
marketing team, in a bid to expand its derivatives business

28 February - Rob van Paridon, US head of wholesale client business at ABN
Amro, has been selected to succeed Erik Post as head of the Dutch bank's
global futures business

To read more now, click http://www.risknews.net

*******************************************************************
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Events - 02/03/2001
===================================================================

Risk 2001 Europe ) Risk magazine,s 6th annual European derivatives and
risk congress,
10 & 11 April, Paris

At this year,s Risk Europe Congress, an entire stream is dedicated risk
management for investment managers. Key speakers on this stream include:

Malcolm Kemp, Zurich Scudder Investments Limited,
David Mordecai, University of Chicago
Michael de Marco and Erwin Martens, Putnam Investments
Stephen Rees, Baring Asset Management
Dr B. Scherer, Deutsche Asset Management
Kenrick Ramlochan, Bank of America
Kelsey Biggers, Measurisk
Pim Poppe, Robeco Group
Donna Marie Howe, ABN Amro
Peter Davies and Dr P. K. Satish, Askari
Michelle McCarthy, Deutsche Bank Group
Edward Fishwick, AXA Investment Management

(http://www.risk-conferences.com/risk2001euro)

At no other event will you hear from these leading market participants,
who will deliver cutting-edge presentations, focusing on the key risk
management issues facing the investment industry in Europe.

Congress keynote presentations from:
Bob Litzenberger, Goldman Sachs
Andrew W. Lo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Other conferences coming soon:

Monte Carlo techniques, London 8 & 9 March 2001; New York 12 & 13 March
2001
Accounting for energy derivatives, Houston 26 & 27 March 2001
Practical accounting for derivatives, London 2 & 3 April 2001; New York 19
& 20 April 2001
ALM 2001 ) Risk Magazine,s 7th annual Conference ) New York 21 & 22 June
2001
Risk 2001 USA ) Risk magazine,s 7th annual US derivatives and risk
management congress, Boston 12 & 13 June 2001.

For further information contact: http://www.risk-conferences.com
http://www.risktraining.com

===================================================================
All of Risk Waters Group online services can be accessed through
http://www.riskwaters.com


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