The year 2000 started the evolution of the German market for Structured Products with incorporated Hedge Fund exposures. This paper provides an extensive commentary on this fast growing segment. Our analysis suggests that the market for existing products is affected by significant heterogeneity....

Some traders estimate precipitation derivatives to have a potential which increases even that of temperature derivatives. Precipitation derivatives can be used both for hedging and marketing purposes for a diverse number of possible end users. However, the complex way of measuring precipitation,...

In den letzten Jahren hat sich eine Vielzahl von Produkten entwickelt, bei denen der Zahlungszeitpunkt und die Feststellung des Zinssatzes von den natürlichenGewohnheiten des Marktes abweichen. Ein typisches Instrument sind LIBORZahlungen, deren Zinsfestellung nicht am Anfang, sondern am Ende...

Seit 1998 gewinnt hybrides Kernkapital eine zunehmende Bedeutung im deutschen Markt. Die besondere Form der stillen Beteiligung in Deutschland aber auch die Emission von Perpetuals ermöglichen den Banken eine bessere Strukturierung ihres aufsichtsrechtlichen Eigenkapitals.

Merger and acquisition activities can have a strong impact on the capital structure of the companies involved and therefore on the value of debt. This paper discusses the role of covenants within debt contracts. Using the Real Option approach to quantify the implications of covenants on the...

Directors' Dealings have been extensively analysed especially for U.S. and U.K. stock markets. This event study is meant to bridge the gap for Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The question to be investigated is whether board members and other company insiders earn abnormal returns with market...

Most research on the performance and risk of hedge funds are based on calculations that just use the data from one index provider. Also most product providers and even more and more investors are using hedge fund indices for benchmarking purposes. As some academic articles pointed out, the world...

The investment in commodities is starting to be more important during the last years. The paper describes the characteristics of financially important commodities. In many cases a passive investment in an index is most suitable. As the GSCI is found to be the most important, its underlying...

The paper examines the key drivers of gold investment. Since 2000 the gold price has risen drastically, making gold an interesting add-on to a portfolio. As gold futures have negative roll returns, gold pool accounts are characterized by high credit risk and physical possession of gold means...

This paper discusses the management of loan commitments (Kreditzusagen). First, we elaborate on the necessary steps to efficiently manage liquidity facilities. In particular, the drawdown pattern of single commitments and a portfolio of such commitments have to be modelled. Based on the drawdown...