In almost every financial market crisis we can observe widening credit spreads, especially in the last years during the subprime and sovereign debt crisis. But what exactly drives the credit spread? This paper will outline static components, i.e. default risk, liquidity, risk and the relative...

Trading and investment strategies play an essential part in better understanding fixed income markets. Over-the-counter markets and thousands of different outstanding bonds increase the difficulties to identify adequate comparison methods. Market participants and their practices differ widely...

Being able to model yield curves from observed bond yields is essential in capital markets. Yield curves are required to accurately price financial products as well as to correctly assess the macroeconomic situation of economies. Current models based on the work of Nelson/Siegel et al. apply a...

The current financial market crisis has impressively demonstrated the importance of an effective credit risk management for financial institutions. At the same time, the use and the valuation of credit derivatives has been widely criticised as a result of the crisis. Over the past decade, credit...

The current financial market crisis has impressively demonstrated the importance of an effective credit risk management for financial institutions. At the same time, the use and the valuation of credit derivatives has been widely criticised as a result of the crisis. Over the past decade, credit...

Within the last decade, credit risk management of financial institutions has been subject to major changes due to the development of the credit derivatives market. In the past, financial institutions merely had the possibility to manage their credit portfolio by either approving or refusing a...