Buffet to Start Firm that Quantifies Financial Risk
That may be why he agreed to start a new venture aimed
at putting a numerical value on risk.
The new firm, to be launched with the help of former JP
Morgan chief financial officer Peter Hancock, and a Goldman
Sachs investment banker, Roberto Mendoza, will get a
majority investment from General Re reinsurance subsidiary
General Re Securities Holding, which manages the insurance
company’s financial products operations.
Managing financial risk though quantitative models is
becoming integral to both the insurance and derivatives
business. Essentially, the huge over-the-counter options
business has developed into customized insurance policies
in which issuers, creditors, manufacturers, and the option
packager share a portfolio of the multi-lateral risks going
out years into the future.
Putting a numeric value on those customized risks is the
essence of the business in which payoffs can be huge, and
mistakes wind up on the front pages.
Hancock was global head of derivatives at JP Morgan from
1990 to 1995. Mendoza, the former JP Morgan vice
chairman, is leaving Goldman Sachs after just eight months
on the job to join the new company.
– Chuck Epstein
editors@plansponsor.com
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