This article covers the trading blowups at the hedge fund, Amaranth, and at the Futures Commission Merchant, MF Global. Although the lessons from the Amaranth blowup can best be understood in terms of market-risk principles, the lessons from the MF Global bankruptcy are best understood in terms...

The heads of state of a broad coalition of nations, the Group of Twenty (G-20), met in September 2009 in Pittsburgh to chart the course of recovery from the financial crisis and set internationally agreed-upon objectives for the reform of regulatory policy.

Financial market utilities ensure that clearing, settlement, and payments operations go smoothly. This article explores how these systems mitigate settlement risk, using precisely targeted “just-in-time” liquidity, and discusses the risks for financial stability implied by the increasing...