Under the new Basle Guidelines, all financial institutions subject to local banking laws will soon be required to operate under dramatically different risk exposure rules. Risk Management and Capital Adequacy provides details on the key risk approaches under these new guidelines and is the first book to analyze if and how they can be integrated. From conceptual frameworks to analyses of models and approaches, it provides a solid reference source for the information that everyone in risk management will soon need to know.



Form back cover:

For financial institutions around the world, the work involved market, credit, and operational risk exposures-as well as the capital required to support such exposures-will change dramatically under the new Basel Accord guidelines. Risk Management and Capital Adequacy is to examine how institutions can streamline programs by, whert integrating and simplifying risk management strategies and techniques.

From analyses of the latest models and frameworks to case studies and examples of the devastating effects of unfocused or insufficient risk management, this in-depth examination reveals:

* Building blocks for constructing an integrated, effective risk management framework

* The three pillars of the Basel Accord-and what institutions D do to comply with each

* Details behind financial disasters, from LTCM to Barings, and they could have been prevented

While banks have an institutional interest in managing risk exp' also have a competitive interest in managing risk exposures, they also have a competitive interest in minimizing the capital required to offset those exposures. Risk Management and Capital Adequacy is the first book to outline an integrative framework for managing risks, and complying with the Basel Accord requirements, in the most cost-effective, capital-efficient, and competitively sound possible ways.



From inside cover:

The effective management of risk is a front-and-center topic for financial institutions. Charged with meeting every- thing from the newly fluid realities of global markets to the inflexible requirements of the Basel Accords, institutions are finding they must replace formalized and normative approaches with new types of risk management. These programs must be detailed enough to address the risks of today's dynamic markets yet adaptable enough to meet the needs of individual institutions and their requirements-while at the same time allowing decision-makers to demonstrate their willingness and capability to effectively handle unseen risk and increase shareholder value.

Risk Management and Capital Adequacy examines and explains today's key approaches for understanding and managing market, credit, and operational risk. The first book to provide practitioners with straightforward and hands-on techniques for integrating key risk management approaches, this all-inclusive resource covers topics such as:

* The history of modem risk management

* Regulatory mechanisms for managing risk

* Conceptual approaches for modeling market, credit, and operational risk

* Modem Portfolio Theory and the Capital Asset Pricing Model

* Uses and limitations of Value at Risk

* The BIS risk-based capital requirement framework

* KMV's credit monitor model

* Differences in credit versus market risk models

* KPMG's Loan Analysis System and other risk-neutral valuation approaches

* Products with inherent credit risks

* Capital adequacy issues from regulatory and industry perspectives

* Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the New Basel Capital Accord

* Case studies of Metallgesellschaft, Sumitomo, LTCM, and Barings

Under the new Basel guidelines, all finan- cial institutions subject to local banking laws will be required to adopt and operate under dramatically different risk exposure rules and guidelines. Risk Management and Capital Adequacy provides banking executives with an integrated risk management framework that is as seamless to implement as it is self-explanatory and complete. It is today's most across-the- board examination of where risk management stands today, which rules and guidelines

are likely to change in the future, and how institutions can establish programs that meet risk management imperatives, limit risk capital requirements, and provide for the integration of risk management to cover the global spectrum of today's financial arena.

About the author:

Reto Gallati, Ph.D., is deputy chief risk officer at Putnam Investments. A visiting professor at MIT's Sloan School of

Management, Dr. Gallati has also worked in risk management at KPMG, Goldman Sachs, and Credit Suisse and has been an instructor at Boston University, Harvard, and the University of Zurich.