Morgan Stanley Takes Credit Derivatives House of the Year Award

Thanks to delivering structural and technical innovations, as well as executing smooth, seamless transactions for its clients, Morgan Stanley's credit derivatives business stood head and shoulders above the competition in a turbulent 2005, according to Risk magazine. As a result, the publication has named the Firm the credit derivatives house of the year. In announcing the award, the publication cited that Morgan Stanley's work to solve these back-office issues early on, building a functional system that leaves little room for error. "The firm applies credit derivatives technology to a host of different risk mitigation, risk transfer and hedging situations," the editors explained. "These types of deals range from hedging market gap risk for a fund of hedge funds to preparing a solution for a real-estate investor to hedge lessee credit risk. Those kinds of strategies, combined with its credit derivatives prime brokerage offering, pushed Morgan Stanley ahead of its peers in a very competitive marketplace." Responding to magazine queries, Morgan Stanley's clients praised the Firm's credit derivatives Prime Brokerage service, with many hedge fund clients calling the platform simply "outstanding." The piece also praised Morgan Stanley for driving innovation in the credit derivatives space, citing the partnership with Cheyne Capital to create a US$4bn structured investment vehicle. Additionally, Risk credited the Firm with helping to debut leveraged loan product default swaps in the European market late last year, and praised the Firm's work to create a trade receivables-based CDS contract, which will give corporates a new way to manage risk.