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  • THE OUTSIDER: Risk has become the department of no-can-do : David Charters (updated on Tuesday, 30 June, 2009 - 10:47pm)

    A few months ago I rashly went on the record as saying that one of the benefits of the financial crisis was that in future investment banks would have much improved risk management functions. And I believed it.

    Even now, looking back on it, it still makes sense. There was a clear disconnect not only between the rocket scientists on the trading desks who were taking on risk for their firms and the risk managers who were supposed to be supervising them, but in turn between risk management and the boards of some of the largest firms.

  • Perpetual+: 27 June 2009 (updated on Tuesday, 21 August, 2012 - 2:17pm)

    Since 19 Jun 09, the HSCEI is up ~5%. It was not without volatility, though. During the week the index fell below 10,300, before finishing above 11,000 on Friday. Its 30-day volatility is up 1% at 36.85%.

    This week saw another rebalance event, reducing the exposure from 94.66% to 87.74%. I sold 50,000 contracts of 63329 HK.

    Currently the portfolio is up 8.52%, vs. 9.58% for the index. Its annualised volatility since the inception stands at 33.32%, vs. 37.38% for the index.

  • Perpetual+: 19 June 2009 (updated on Tuesday, 21 August, 2012 - 2:17pm)

    The market has been rather flat since 03 June 2009. HSCEI is currently at 10,509.85 or up 4.34% since 19 May 2009. The vol has come down quite a bit over the period at 35.70%, increasing the risk-adjusted Multiplier to 3.36.

    On 17 June 2009, there was the second rebalance, increasing the exposure to 94.66% from 83.88%, on back of the decrease in the volatility. I bought 80,000 contracts of 63329 HK to a total of 670,000 contracts.

  • Blood lines (updated on Monday, 20 August, 2012 - 12:05am)

    In a large private garden in Manhattan, behind a grand New York City brownstone, a man in his 90s took the hand of a young girl who is not yet 12. The bridge between them, the man's son, the girl's father, stood at a distance, looking on.

    "That was pure love," says Sandi Pei, the 60-year-old son of I.M. Pei, the architect who designed Hong Kong's Bank of China tower and the Pyramid at the Louvre, in Paris, France. "I wasn't quite sure whether Anna was leading my father or if he was leading her."

  • Ex-missionaries spread a new gospel - for cash (updated on Monday, 20 August, 2012 - 12:05am)

    Six days a week, in fair weather and foul, two dozen door-to-door salesmen, all of whom live clustered together in an apartment complex in Oak Brook, a suburb west of Chicago, pile into SUVs and cars and head into the big city, bent on sales of home security systems.

    And on Sundays, their one day off, they drive together to the nearest house of worship of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

  • Going to climatic extremes (updated on Sunday, 14 June, 2009 - 3:27pm)

    Global warming is changing the Earth's climate so fast that influential scientists fear it is already outrunning our ability to prevent the planet from overheating.

    John Holdren, US President Barack Obama's chief scientific adviser, is only the latest to suggest radical geo-engineering measures may have to be considered to keep the Earth habitable.

    "It's got to be looked at. We don't have the luxury of taking any approach off the table," he said. He recently compared the crisis with being "in a car with bad brakes driving towards a cliff in the fog".

  • Re-election of Iranian leader a charade, rival says (updated on Sunday, 14 June, 2009 - 3:15pm)


    Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main rival vowed yesterday he would not surrender to "this dangerous charade" after the hardline Iranian president was re-elected by a huge margin.

    Mr Ahmadinejad's victory over Mir Hossein Mousavi, a moderate former prime minister, upset widespread expectations that the race would at least go to a second round.

    Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said Mr Ahmadinejad won 62.6 per cent of the vote and Mr Mousavi 33.75 per cent. Turnout was a record 85 per cent.

  • Cracks open in deal to save the planet (updated on Monday, 20 August, 2012 - 2:34pm)

    It could save the rainforests of Borneo, slow climate change and the international community backs it. But a plan to pay tropical countries not to chop down trees risks being discredited by opportunists even before it starts.

    A forest carbon market is emerging in anticipation of a UN climate deal in December in Copenhagen, expected to allow rich countries to pay to protect rainforests as a cheap alternative to cutting their own greenhouse gases.

  • Wood Is New Coal as Polluters Use Carbon-Eating Trees (updated on Tuesday, 21 August, 2012 - 5:42pm)

    June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Wood is becoming a hot commodity in a new low-carbon world.

    Power companies are burning more trees because the renewable fuel can be cheaper than coal and ignited without needing permits to release carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming.

  • School tests value of star teachers paid top dollar (updated on Monday, 20 August, 2012 - 12:05am)

    So what kind of teachers could a school get if it paid them USD125,000 a year?

    An accomplished violist who infuses her music lessons with the neuroscience of why one needs to practise, and creatively worded instructions such as: "Pass the melody gently, as if it were a bowl of Jell-O." A self-described "explorer" from Arizona who spent three decades honing her craft at public, private, urban and rural schools. Two with Ivy League degrees.

What did I say then?

Hypo Real Estate Rescue at Risk as Banks Withdraw Their Support (4 years 32 weeks ago): Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, the ailing German property lender, said a 35 billion-euro (USD49 billion) government-backed bailout plan collapsed as commercial banks withdrew their support. ``The bank is in a very difficult situation,'' Hypo Real Estate spokesman Hans Obermeier said in a telephone interview. ``We hope everyone involved in the discussions is aware of this.''