Risk management

A great overview from The Economist

Last but not least, change the perception and standing of risk departments by giving them more prominence. The best way would be to encourage more traders to become risk managers. Unfortunately the trend has been in reverse; good risk managers end up in the front-line and good traders and bankers, once in the front-line, very rarely go the other way. Risk managers need to be perceived like good goalkeepers: always in the game and occasionally absolutely at the heart of it, like in a penalty shoot-out.

Good coverage of some of the institutional issues as well as the limbo position of credit derivatives, standing somewhere between the trading desk and the credit desk and never gaining full attention.

There is a a reaffirmation of the way that banks sold the lower tranches and maintained the higher tranches for themselves, The position gradually increased as it thought inconceivable that these 'safe' assets could lose much value because of credit or market changes.