STA Blog

I’ll agree with you that the title of this webinar is more than a mouthful. But bear with me because the content is seriously good and the panel are very experienced insiders. Organised on the 16th of June 2022 by Commodities People (a specialist conference organiser based in London’s Canada Square), the on-line presentation was introduced and moderated by Ben Hillary, Managing Director and founder of the firm, in partnership with NASDAQ. Speaking on the latter’s behalf was Roland Chai who is clearly very knowledgeable about Australia’s electricity market where he sums it up: ‘’show me the Greeks’’.

I urge you to watch the first presentation by Glenn Labhart of Risk Advisors Inc. closely. Though only about 15 minutes long, his slick slide-show is packed with a very comprehensive overview of the many aspects of risk management, including default risk and liquidity risk.

Next up is Richard Reid, Chief Risk Officer on the clearing side of long-term broker stalwart E D & F Man. Very much a hands-on person, he’s currently focusing on how to switch from end-of-day risk to real-time risk. Here he sees data availability for commodities, credit and fixed income being more problematic than it is for equities and foreign exchange.

This is followed by an insider’s view from Matthew Wade, chief of LME Clear. He discusses the issues of dealing very quickly with masses of data, noise and gossip. He also points out new problems coming to light with the loss of smaller players as they struggle with financing.

Last and certainly not least is Thomas Texier of clearing firm Marex. His company configures their own risk platforms, often bundling different but related contracts as one. Basically they act as a buffer between the clients and the clearing houses which he calls the ‘’accordion effect’’.

Here is the link to the video which also has a long and detailed question and answer section.