Managing Risk in Financial Institutions : A Comprehensive Approach

This book reflects the authors several years of experience managing risks for one of the worlds largest financial institutions.

Although both the concepts of value at risk (VAR) in the management of market risk, and pre-settlement and settlement risks as parts of counterparty risk in trading transactions, are well-known and established, the book presents an integrated approach, exploring not only the interrelation between both types of risks but also other also important risk categories.

Those include liquidity risk, the management of which is essential to the stability and even the survival of a financial institution, as proven by the collapse of some traditional houses that, although solvent, were brought down by liquidity problems.

Attention is also focused on operational risk, emphasizing that the most creative and well-timed dealings can have undesired consequences due to operational failures. Equal significance applies to legal and regulatory risks, both deserving critical attention.

The final chapter proposes a unified process for the measurement of market and credit risk in order to avoid double counting, which has clear implications for the measurement of capital requirements.