Science to the rescue!

Radio Suisse Romande interview Jean-Pierre Danthine about the world's still panic-seized financial markets.

Must our financial markets be made simpler, or could sophisticated tools be developed to better manage the financial risks we face?

Quantitative finance, a discipline at the cross-roads between economics, mathematics and computer science, offers a powerful approach to understand financial markets and manage risk.

In the interview, Professor Danthine talks about Switzerland's moves to strengthen the quantitative skills of financial professionals.

Listen to the interview (French)

Deutsche Welle radio interview Darrell Duffie about UBS write-downs

Deutsche Welle radio will broadcast an interview of Visiting Professor Darrell Duffie (Stanford) today about the further write-downs at UBS.


Listen to interview (Deutsche Welle site)

Listen (Permalink)

SocGen employee causes market crash?

L'Hebdo interview SFI managing director Jean-Pierre Danthine is interviewed about whether financial products have become impossible to master.

With universities increasing their educational offerings in quantitative finance, Danthine believes there is hope that crises such as that seen at Societe Generale can be avoided in future.

IETA CEO inaugurates course on energy and emissions trading

Andrei Marcu, CEO of the International Emissions Trading Association, was special guest at the launch of the Institute's new course on energy and emissions trading (Tuesday January 29th).


Marcu spoke about using markets to deal with environmental scarcity. Markets offer flexibility, encourage innovation and create the possibility to monetize the transition to a low emissions economy.

According to Marcu, Finance has been late to the table in the development of emissions trading. In the past, the main drivers behind emission trading have been the companies involved in manufacturing and energy.

Likewise, traditional names in finance and executive education do not yet offer specialized training in emissions trading. Marcu congratulated the Institute for taking the initiative with the new emissions trading course, which will assemble energy and trading experts Mark Holder, James Kharouf and Peter Fusaro.

More than 50 people attended the inauguration event at the Swiss Finance Institute's new offices in 9 Rue de Gare.

Notable attendees included Michel Chevallier, Geneva State Head of Cabinet, senior representatives from Swiss and international banks, journalists from Le Temps and L'AGEFI, several Swiss Finance Institute professors and even a few hedge fund managers.

Our new Geneva office is accessible by low carbon public transport courtesy of Geneva main station, which is situated directly across the road.

So do drop in if you are in town!

(and for those further afield, visit our Gallery)

We will issue a press release about the event on February 6th.

Emissions trading update

This week, the CEO of IETA, Andrei Marcu, will talk about emissions trading and sustainable development at our new offices in Geneva.

The IETA issued a press release yesterday calling for better recognition of environmental standards in the voluntary carbon market place.

I will be speaking with Mr Marcu about his experiences at the World Economic Forum last week, including the session on The Effectiveness of Carbon Trading.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has quoted Mr Marco in a news release on January 25th:

“A clear outcome from negotiations in Copenhagen is essential for the continuity of the rapidly growing carbon market. There are substantial investments flowing through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), but uncertainty about the future of the market after 2012 could easily undo the momentum and hinder future expansion,” said Andrei Marcu, President and CEO of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA).

Over the weekend, Japan Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda unveiled a 10 billion dollar climate change fund. The proposal included the Cool Earth Promotion Programme, which features a new financial mechanism to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The plot below displays recent blogging activity about emissions trading:

Interview with Jean-Pierre Danthine in L'AGEFI

L'AGEFI 2008 01 15 Interview with Jean-Piere Danthine by Sylvain Frochaux discussing the "paying for luck puzzle" in corporate finance.

Professor Danthine anticipates an increase in shareholder activism.

Danthine points out that the five largest investment banks on Wall Street will distribute a record $39 billion in bonuses in 2007, despite the fact that three have published the worst fourth quarter results in their history. Shareholders have lost more than 80 billion in value.

He identifies problems in corporate governance and refers to Michael Jensen's work in the 1980s concerning agency costs and ownership structure.

Links: Founding vision of Davos, Gold Standard carbon offsets and more

FT Interview: Klaus Schwab
Haig Simonian describes Geneva business professor Klaus Schwab's founding vision for the Davos meeting 37 years ago as a interdisciplinary platform for executives to mingle with others.

Britain and US up in arms against EU carbon tax
"Could require exporters to buy EU pollution permits if they wish to trade within the bloc"

Credit Suisse, AIL and South Pole to launch carbon investment vehicle
Offset trading program in which the underlying assets are Kyoto Protocol carbon credits generated by carbon neutral projects. The majority of the fund will be invested in Gold Standard certified projects.

New Middle East environmental advisory services company launches regional carbon offset and management initiatives
Foundation of EcoVentures reflects the awareness of the importance of environmental concerns in the Middle East.