October 12th, 2006, 12:56 pm
No other issue is currently more relevant in the REAL WORLD of derivatives than FAS133-IAS39. Nothing else matters most to players, in particular those from the corporate side of the business. The argument could be made rationally that the new rules have the potential of severely wrecking the industry. For instance, it is conventional wisdom that corporates in the US have completely stopped using exotic products. Why is this important? Because you can´t make a living as a derivatives banker unless you can transact some non-vanilla stuff. What will be the future for corporate derivatives bankers? Not clear. Also, credit derivatives, the current unstoppable juggernaut, receive pretty ugly accounting treatment.I would recommend that you take a look at the issues of Risk and FOW magazines for the past couple of years. Several articles/papers have been published on the REAL WORLD effects of FAS133-IAS39.Also, Risk Books has recently published two books that deal extensively with the topic: "Derivatives Accounting and Risk Management" (more technical and definitions-filled) and "Corporate Derivatives" (more analysis-based and market information-providing).If you want to truly understand what´s going on in the REAL WORLD of the derivatives industry you simply cannot ignore the new standards and why they can create so much havoc.