#Links
Tier 1 tyranny
Equity Tier 1 capital is a lousy measure of a bank’s ability to absorb losses, and getting bogged down in the decimal places of an individual bank’s ratios makes little sense. Yet the fact that regulators have found no alternative shows just how geared and unreliable banks’ earnings are.
Quants adapting to a Darwinian analysis
Quants have a future. But the disaster that befell quantitative equity funds amid the credit crisis last August has shaken the investment community to the core, and is changing investors’ understanding of how markets work.
Abandoned!
Britain’s economic woes are forcing people to abandon animals in unprecedented numbers as desperate families struggle to cut costs by dumping their pets.
AIG Says Capital Raise Will Total About $20 Billion
The capital raising reflects the “desire to position AIG with flexibility to take advantage of opportunities,” including expanding the company’s existing businesses, Chief Executive Officer Martin Sullivan said.
Ex-Amaranth Trader Hunter Helps Deliver 17% Gain
A commodities hedge fund advised by Brian Hunter returned 17 percent last month using a strategy similar to one the energy trader relied on at Amaranth Advisors LLC and that led to its collapse in 2006. The Peak Ridge Commodity Volatility Fund, which seeks to profit from price differences in the natural-gas market, has gained 138 percent since starting on Nov. 13.
BOLI troubles: Citigroup Hedge-Fund Loss Weighs on Three Banks
The downward spiral of a Citigroup Inc. hedge fund has caused steep losses for at least three large U.S. banks that hoped it would rev up returns on a controversial type of employee life insurance.