Structured Finance and Collateralized Debt Obligations

Book excerpt: An up-to-date look at the exploding CDO and structured credit products market In this fully updated Second Edition, financial expert Janet Tavakoli provides readers with a comprehensive look at the CDO and structured credit products market amid recent developments. In addition to a detailed overview of the market, this book presents key issues in valuing structured financial products and important quality control issues. Tavakoli shares her experiences in this field, as she examines important securitization topics, including the huge increase in CDO arbitrage created by synthetics, the tranches most at risk from new technology, dumping securitizations on bank balance sheets, the abuse of offshore vehicles by companies, the role of hedge funds, critical issues with subprime, Alt-A, and prime mortgage securitizations, and securitizations made possible by new securitization techniques and the Euro. While providing an overview of the market and its dynamic growth, Tavakoli takes the time to explore the types of products now offered, new hedging techniques, and valuation and risk/return issues associated with investment in CDOs and synthetic CDOs.