New and Recent Consulting Services
EXPERT WITNESS SERVICES
Our expertise in derivatives across asset classes, combined with our independence from financial institutions, has positioned us well to serve as expert witness on derivative litigations. Our experience in structured credit is particularly relevant in securitization litigations. As litigation has increased, so has our breadth and depth of knowledge on the various areas for litigation and market conventions. Our expertise spans futures, forwards, vanilla and exotic swaps and options across asset classes, as well as cash and synthetic CDOs, CDO-squared and CDOs of ABS, single tranche deals, credit CPPI and CPDOs.
DERIVATIVES EXPOSURES
With increased activity in unwinds and assignments of derivative contracts in the wake of the credit crisis, we can help financial institutions assess and manage their derivative exposures across counterparties. Our services include assistance in determining capital to hold against exposures, assessing operational risk and the extent to which trades can be netted, risk-return analysis of spreading counterparty risk vs. assigning to the counterparty with the best price. We have derivatives expertise in credit, interest rates, FX, equities, commodities and alternative investments.
DERIVATIVE AGREEMENTS
In recent weeks, market participants have had to renegotiate derivative contracts with existing counterparties, negotiate new contracts with new counterparties and work through their contractual agreements for trades with bankrupt counterparties. We can help market participants through all these processes, based on our knowledge of market standard terms and conditions and our experience in working through these agreements.
VAR AND STRESS TESTING
The “Black Swan” events that have unfolded in the past year have shown Value at Risk measures to have underestimated the magnitude and interdependence of single events that could lead to systemic risk. Our expertise in risk management puts us in a unique position to work with investors and banks through their process of stress testing by helping them in designing parameters and their interdependencies; choosing realistic timeframes; understanding first and second order impacts; simulating market stresses; designing mitigation strategies and planning for contingencies.
NEW REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
Given the uncertainty around the scope of regulation and the entities and products that will be subject to regulation going forward, financial institutions are in an uncomfortable position of not knowing their future liabilities. As market professionals who have dealt with regulators, capital requirements, and assessing and reporting exposures, we are in a position to help market participants do the same to maximize their returns while complying with letter and spirit of regulations.
RISK ANALYSIS AND REPORTING
With risk management being at the forefront of market attention, it is crucial for organizations to understand their key business risks, how various components come together at a firm-wide level, and how to analyze and report key risk indicators. We can assist organizations in identifying their key risks at the group, business and firm-wide level; understanding linkages between key risk indicators and provisioning for them accordingly; monitoring and flagging risks and setting risk limits; and attributing P&L and consolidating returns across business lines and regions.
Our experience with B&B has been characterized by its high level of professionalism, its depth and breath of expertise, and its flexibility. We find B&B's team to be the best kept secret in the industry. Ultimately, what we find to be the key differentiator between B&B and the rest is the ease with which they can shed light on complex topics, by being able explain abstract concepts in plain English. They are always willing to adapt to the client's needs, even when it means making last minute changes.