Over-the-Counter Derivative Products: A Guide to Legal Risk Management and Documentation [Hardcover]

Robert M. McLaughlin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 1998

"Over-the-Counter Derivative Products" is the first clearly-written, systematic derivatives book for fiduciaries, senior executives, and lawyers of corporations, banks, pension funds, insurance companies - anyone who needs to know more about the booming derivatives marketplace. Written in layman's terms by globally-experienced derivatives and finance attorney Robert M. McLaughlin, "Over-the-Counter Derivative Products" is filled with examples, case histories and quotes from leading financial economists and legal writings that vividly bring today's derivatives marketplace to life.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The First Systematic, Plain-English Book That Makes Sense of OTC Derivatives. "This book bridges a critical gap, which heretofore has kept finance specialists from understanding the legal point of view and lawyers from understanding the financial point of view. It is the Rosetta Stone of law and financial derivatives."--Don M. Chance, First Union Professor of Financial Risk Management, Virginia Tech. "Robert McLaughlin's OTC Derivatives Products contains an elaborate and insightful treatment of the theoretical foundation of fidicuiary law... Mr. McLaughlin's book is a pioneering work that will help courts, regulators, and practitioners alike to develop coherent analysis in classifying and designing the law applicable to relationships involving derivatives."--Tamar Frankel, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law, Author of The Regulation of Money Managers and Securitization: Structured Financing, Financial Asset Pools, and Asset-Backed Securities. Over-the-Counter Derivative Products analyzes derivatives from their economic functions. It begins with the two simple "building blocks" from which all derivatives are constructed: forwards and options. It shows how the building blocks are used to achieve derivatives' three "pure" risk management functions, namely: (i) hedging or shedding unwanted risks, (ii) insuring against loss, and (iii) minimizing risks through diversification. That background: instantly clarifies the essential economic attributes of the endless stream of products; shows how derivatives, used properly, can solve not only an organization's own but also its investors', customers', and other business partners' vexing business problems; provides a business and legal risk management framework that can be used not only for today's derivatives but also for other and future financial innovation. Robert McLaulghlin's vital book will become your lifeline to derivatives knowledge and to business and investment success.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 508 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (September 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786310782
• ISBN-13: 978-0786310784
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,495,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific book for all finance professionals!, October 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Over-the-Counter Derivative Products: A Guide to Legal Risk Management and Documentation (Hardcover)

As Harvard B-Schools's Tufano notes in his Foreword, this really is an excellent book for business managers and finance professionals, and their lawyers. It explains what all derivatives have in common and helps you understand how and why they work -- when used properly, as the book and today's markets constantly remind us. The book should have lasting value because it relies on the stable functions of derivatives and of their regulation. And through its functional approach to fiduciary duties, disclosure issues, and exchange regulation, the book also throws a lot of light on derivatives' legal and regulatory systems. (I'm not a lawyer but I do manage my firm's regulatory compliance.) I have seen the book's building block approach used to simplify technical discussions of individual products. But I don't recall ever having seen it woven as it is here into a discussion of law and regulation that makes sense to business and legal audiences. Tufano says that to work together confidently, managers and lawyers need a heightened appreciation of each other's expertise and a common language. I agree that this book makes an an important contribution to both. The book should also be a useful to teachers and students in business and law schools. Definitely worth reading, a must for the library of any law firm and the desk of any senior manager or market professional.