ICAP bids for LCH.Clearnet. Money Funds the Next Big Risk?

News from the world of CDS this morning as Bloomberg reports that ICAP Plc is among a group of financial companies that may bid for LCH.Clearnet Group as regulators look to overhaul the $28 trillion Credit Default Swap market. The offer competes with DTCC which has an existing bid of over $900 million for the firm...Also from Bloomberg, U.S. President Obama will require banks to boost lending to businesses and consumers in return for taxpayer aid from the $700 billion bailout fund. While Treasury may not unveil the plan until next week, the administration is likely to reveal a stricter set of rules about executive pay for those who take taxpayer money...JP Morgan economist Jes Staley says the $4 trillion money market fund industry poses the greatest systemic risk to the financial system that has not yet been addressed....Valuation is the problem as the Obama administration prepares to buy or guarantee troubled assets on the books of the nation's biggest banks. The New York Times reports about the challenge of pinning a "real" or even objective value on assets whose prices are not only subject to huge volatility, but also vary wildly depending on the source of those prices...The Wall Street Journal has an Op-Ed piece by consultant Bert Ely challenging the conventional wisdom that commercial banks aren't lending and maintaining that banks must always lend prudently...and finally, a story about the circularity of the market for CDS protection on U.S. government debt, where prices have soared over 700% in a year...Remember to visit GlobalRiskJobs to keep up with current news and career information that affects risk and compliance professionals around the world.