Publications

SSRN

Find at Harvard

February 1982 (Revised March 1984)
Case

Travelers Investment Management Co.

By: David E. Bell

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Management; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

October 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Rio Tinto vs. the Securities and Exchange Commission

By: Aiyesha Dey, Krishna G. Palepu and Sarah Gulick

01 Mar 2010
News

Rx for Too Big to Fail

there is a real risk of oversimplifying the problem. If tough rhetoric becomes a substitute for tough regulation, we will — tragically — miss our best shot at a financially stable future. There are plenty of... View Details

Keywords: David Moss; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

January 2008
Background Note

Equity Derivatives

By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford

The goal of these simulations is to understand the dynamic replication technique behind the Black-Scholes/Merton options model. The simulations focus on a single stock and a risk-free discount bond, which are used to replicate a contingent payoff. The underlying stock... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Bonds; Stocks; Price; Risk Management

Career Coach

Nicole Ledoux

returned stateside to help build a new sell-side fixed income rates business for State Street Global Markets, trading swaptions and FX options. Nicole enjoys advising students exploring various functions in entrepreneurship and finance, especially those seeking to... View Details

Keywords: Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All); Financial Services (All)

April 1993 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Lehman Brothers and the Securitization of American Express Charge-Card Receivables

By: Andre F. Perold and Kuljot Singh

In early 1992, Lehman Brothers had received a mandate from its affiliate, American Express Travel Related Services (TRS) Co., to securitize a portion of its consumer charge-card receivables portfolio. It is now July 22, and Lehman and TRS have just returned from a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Credit Cards; Financial Instruments; Stocks; Asset Pricing

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

In the run-up to the global financial crisis, credit rating agencies gave high marks to such risky financial vehicles as collateralized debt obligations, which few people understood. It has been argued that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

October 2009 (Revised April 2010)
Supplement

Societe Generale (B): The Jerome Kerviel Affair

By: Francois Brochet

This case illustrates the tension/balance that firms with complex and risky business models must consider in designing their internal controls. It describes the environment in which a derivatives trader engaged in massive directional positions on major European stocks... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Governance Controls; Crisis Management; Financial Services Industry

July 2002
Case

First American Bank: Credit Default Swaps

This case examines a bank's ability to manage its credit exposure to a particular client using credit default swaps. View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Risk and Uncertainty; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

27 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

A Politician's Investment Portfolio Might Tip Off Corruption Potential

Politicians, Minor analyzes whether risk preference is a good predictor of misconduct, using members of Congress as his subjects. He delved into the politicians’ financial records, determining what... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

17 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Companies Detangle from Legacy Pensions

difficult question, How are we going to make good on those promises? Pensions are a costly legacy for many companies. Photo: iStockPhoto The question is particularly urgent now, says Viceira, who teaches in the area of investment management and capital markets. For... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services; Financial Services

July 1997
Case

Treasury Inflation-Protection Securities (TIPS)

Explores the development of a new product offering based on the first issuance of "real" bonds in the United States. Looks at a specific organization's efforts to position itself to profit from this market development. Follows naturally from a case on nominal bonds. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Bonds; Inflation and Deflation; United States

July 1991 (Revised August 1991)
Supplement

Philip Morris Companies, Inc. (C)

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Supplements the (B) case. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Stocks; Initial Public Offering; Consumer Products Industry; United States

December 1995 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Student Educational Loan Fund, Inc.

By: Peter Tufano

Rick Melnick oversees the Student Educational Loan Fund (SELF), which provides loans to Harvard Business School students. SELF is changing the terms of student loans from variable-rate with semiannual payments to fixed-rate loans with equal monthly payments. Melnick... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Financial Services Industry

17 Apr 2017
HBS Case

This Turkish Debt Collector Is Customer-friendly

customer needs. “This company says, instead of being a debt collector, we are going to be a debt resolver.” “Instead of doing one three-minute call with each customer, they were doing 15 to 20 calls lasting 15 minutes each” Turkasset was formed in the wake of the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

01 Aug 2012
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs Worry About ‘Too Big to Succeed?’

have been preoccupied with the question of financial institutions becoming too big to fail. But recent data points have me asking whether the relevant question should be whether financial (and other... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services; Financial Services

October 1999
Case

CIBC Corporate and Investment Banking (C): 1997-1999

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Raynor

By 1997 the turnaround of CIBC's troubled investment bank, Wood Gundy, and its integration with corporate banking activities was complete. Marketplace results were encouraging, but scuttled mergers and tumultuous succession issues made the future uncertain. View Details

Keywords: Integration; Investment Banking; Success; Risk and Uncertainty; Management Succession; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Services Industry