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Structured Finance and Collateralized Debt Obligations: New Developments in Cash and Synthetic Securitization (Tavakoli Finance) Paperback – April 26, 2019
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The definitive book on the built-to-fail mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, corporate bonds, and other flawed structured credit products that led to the global financial crisis by derivatives expert Janet Tavakoli. Structured Finance and Collateralized Debt Obligations (Paperback Textbook, Second Edition) exposed that corporations and financial institutions had massive hidden value-destroying exposure. Banks and corporations fluffed their accounting numbers to cover it up. Tavakoli explains not only what does not work but also what does work. She demonstrates how to profit from the madness of crowds to protect investment portfolios.
Law firms, Congress, and scholarly publications reference her work. She provides real time evidence. John Wiley & Sons published the hardcover edition of this book in September 2008 just as the market imploded. This eTextbook edition is a print replica published by Lyons McNamara. Page numbers are identical to those used in public references.
Among the wealth of practical information, in chapter eight under the subsection “A Good Year for Some,” Tavakoli explains the short ABX Index trade. The index was comprised of flawed mortgage-backed collateralized debt obligation tranches. She published eighteen months before Michael Lewis made the trade famous in his book, The Big Short.
Tavakoli shines a bright light on fraud. She explains how to recognize it in advance. Fraud that affects leveraged corporate debt, asset-backed securities, and other fixed income assets creates a unique opportunity for short sellers. The bonds come to market at par. The short’s downside is limited, cost of carry is minimized, and upside is enormous.
She addresses a wide range of structured financial product issues. Uses and abuses of special purpose corporations and entities, beyond investment banking and corporate finance, are explained in detail.. Other topics include equity-linked notes, credit linked notes, cross-border securitization, and exotic structures.
“Janet Tavakoli has been able to dissect with a brisk style the intricacies of many structured products. Not only does she explain in a clear and insightful manner how certain things work, but more important, why others DO NOT WORK!!! Highly recommended and very much needed.”
Arturo Cifuentes, Ph.D. (formerly Moody's) Professor/Business School en Universidad Adolfo Ibanez. Member, Investment Committee, Chilean Sovereign Fund
“Tavakoli uses her broad professional experience to examine the CDO market in simple and clear language. —Risk
Janet Tavakoli is exceptional in having worked extensively both in mortgage securitization and structured credit at major financial institutions. In this clearly written book, she shares her in-depth knowledge of structuring, valuation, and risk management of structured products. This book is a must read for regulators and risk managers to keep up with the latest developments in structured finance."—Joseph Masri, PhD, Barclays Global Investors, Regional Director, Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA)
“Janet Tavakoli warned the world this disaster was coming well in advance. Now she explains it again for those who did not listen before as well as why it is not over yet. You need to read this book to understand the biggest credit bubble in world history.”—Jim Rogers, author of A Bull in China, Hot Commodities, Adventure Capitalist, and Investment Biker.
“Stan O'Neal, Marcus Ospel, and more than a few other bold-face names in finance might still have jobs if they'd taken the trouble to read this book.”—Greg Newton, Founding Publisher, MAR/Hedge
- Print length479 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateApril 26, 2019
- Dimensions6.14 x 1.08 x 9.21 inches
- ISBN-101943543151
- ISBN-13978-1943543151
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Editorial Reviews
Review
--Risk
"Tavakoli...does what she can to address this market's growing pains in...this intriguing book"
--Hedge World
"Janet Tavakoli warned the world this disaster was coming well in advance. Now she explains it again for those who did not listen before as well as why it is not over yet. You need to read this book to understand the biggest credit bubble in world history."
--Jim Rogers, author of A Bull in China, Hot Commodities, Adventure Capitalist, and Investment Biker,
"Janet Tavakoli's new book provides an insider view into the opaque world of structured finance and collateralized debt obligations. With its clear explanations of numerous structured-finance innovations, I expect this book to become the 'Rosetta Stone' for deciphering these markets. This book is a service to the investment community."
--Hilary Till, Cofounder, Premia Capital Management, LLC
"Janet Tavakoli explains the complex world of structured finance with unusual flair and colorful anecdotes from securitization's front lines. An indispensable and up-to-date guide for anyone seeking greater understanding of the CDO market."
--Charles C. Henneman, CFA, Head, Educational Programs and Events, CFA Institute
"Janet Tavakoli has been able to dissect, with a brisk style, the intricacies of many structured products. Not only does she explain in a clear and insightful manner how certain things work, but more important, why others do not work!"
--Arturo Cifuentes, PhD, Managing Director, R.W. Pressprich & Co.
"Stan O'Neal, Marcus Ospel, and more than a few other bold-face names in finance might still have jobs if they'd taken the trouble to read this book. Janet Tavakoli takes the complexities of today's derivatives markets and makes them both comprehensible and digestible for everybody from the practitioner to the interested observer."
--Greg Newton, Founding Publisher, MAR/Hedge
"Janet Tavakoli is exceptional in having worked extensively both in mortgage securitization and structured credit at major financial institutions. In this clearly written book, she shares her in-depth knowledge of structuring, valuation, and risk management of structured products. This book is a must read for regulators and risk managers to keep up with the latest developments in structured finance."
--Joseph Masri, PhD, Barclays Global Investors, Regional Director, Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA)
Praise for Janet Tavakoli
"ConsultantJanet Tavakoli made no bones about the risks lurking in structured financevehicles"Business Week, January 2008
"Tavakoli'sstrong opinions have earned her some high-profile admirers. Warren Buffett invitedher to stop by..."
University of Chicago Magazine
"Anintelligent analyst whose command of the arcane world of securitization mixedwith a brutally honest analytical framework makes it a pleasure to hear andread her work."
AsiaTimes Online
"Tavakoliwrites in a clear, sprightly way."
ADAM SMITH (George J. W. Goodman), author of The Money Game
"Intelligent analyst whose command of the arcane world...mixed with abrutally honest analytical framework makes it a pleasure to read her work."
Asia Times Online
"Tavakolimakes for an attractive pundit--she knows her stuff, has strong opinions, andturns a colorful quote."
Financial Times
"Tavakolihas been railing against emperors wearing no clothes in the credit derivativesmarkets forever. If only people had listened."
AndrewTobias, author of The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need
Product details
- Publisher : Lyons McNamara LLC
- Publication date : April 26, 2019
- Language : English
- Print length : 479 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1943543151
- ISBN-13 : 978-1943543151
- Item Weight : 2.82 ounces
- Dimensions : 6.14 x 1.08 x 9.21 inches
- Part of series : Tavakoli Finance
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,764,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #123 in Bonds Investing (Books)
- #397 in Investment Portfolio Management
- #520 in Banks & Banking (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Janet Tavakoli is the president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, a derivatives risk consulting firm for financial institutions. She has worked as a chemical engineer, earned her MBA from the University of Chicago, taught derivatives as an adjunct associate professor of finance at the University of Chicago's Booth Business School (Graduate School of Business), and worked for Wall Street firms in New York, Tokyo, and London. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, lived in Iran during the Islamic revolution, lived in New York for a decade, lived in London for several years, and has traveled extensively for business and pleasure in Europe and Japan.
She is the author of Credit Derivatives (Three editions; Wiley 1998, 2001, and Lyons McNamara 2022), Risk (2016), Decisions: Life and Death on Wall Street (2015), , Structured Finance & Collateralized Debt Obligations (Wiley 2003, 2008), and Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street, (Wiley 2009).
The New Robber Barons (Lyons McNamara, 2013), is a compilation of her web-based commentaries since the September 2008 financial crisis through February 2012.
Archangels: Rise of the Jesuits (Lyons McNamara, 2013) is her financial-fiction debut thriller.
Unveiled Threat: A Personal Experience of Fundamentalist Islam and the Roots of Terrorism (Lyons McNamara, 2014) is a non-fiction thriller and commentary.
Ms. Tavakoli is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, New York Times, Business Week, Bloomberg News. Television appearances include CBS's 60 Minutes, CNN, C-Span, CNBC, BNN, CBS Evening News, Bloomberg TV, Fox, ABC, and BBC.
Trade books: www dot tavakolistructuredfinance dot com
Novels: www dot janettavakoli dot com
Customer reviews
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2008I echo the praises of this book sung by previous reviewers. But I can also say in all sincerity that this is the most fun book I can ever recall reading about finance.
The book isn't an overview of the current credit crisis per se, but a detailed look at some of the building blocks that came tumbling down (as well as some that might collapse in the future, such as total-rate-of-return (TRO) swaps). It's addressed to a professional audience, so if you're shy about reading books with some equations you might not enjoy it so much. Most of these are pretty simple, though, and none involve calculus.
Still, I'd recommend that you not be put off by the quantitative bits and professional terminology. To a greater extent than most other finance books, Tavakoli uses diagrams to explain the deal structures. The pictures aren't always understandable separately from the text, but they are generally very lucid and valuable. Most importantly, interspersed with the material for practitioners are extended narrative, historical and critical passages, which will give you an insider's insights into the role human nature plays in quantitative finance. Although she's a financial professional herself, Tavakoli isn't afraid to call 'em how she sees 'em, often with a bit of appropriate cynicism, e.g. "Hedge funds have made massive leveraged credit bets, knowing that their upside is billions in fees and their downside is millions in fees" @ 430. I even laughed out loud in a couple of places, which was a personal first for a book of this genre.
Occasionally Tavakoli uses terminology that isn't explained until later (such as "value at risk" (VaR), which is mentioned @ 87 but not explained until the next chapter, @ 94ff); unfortunately, the index is an erratic aid in this situation (e.g., VaR's first entry in the index is for page 97). But these are very minor quibbles, and shouldn't discourage you from reading this terrific book.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2008Janet Tavakoli has done a great job with her latest edition of Structured Finance and CDOs. This is a must read for anyone trying to understand these markets and the human factor behind the deals that have turn sour in the recent events of the US housing and global credit crises. Great timing for a revised edition!
It is a known fact that the structured finance world has changed dramatically after the recent events but it won't cease to exist. As Ms. Tavakoli puts it, structured finance allows for the creation of synthetic deals than can and will continue to be used for valid business purposes but can also be used, and will continue to be used, as instruments to defraud investors in many instances, hence the call for regulatory bodies that can keep up with the manufacturing of complex financial structures and the way the market players interact driven by greed.
The book doesn't give the reader the answer to the current crisis but it definitely serves as a tool to understand it and craft an educated guess of how and why things happened they way they did. If you are new to the field let Ms. Tavakoli, a real and experienced practitioner, walk you through the inner workings of the industry; you won't regret it.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2019I agree with an earlier reviewer - the problem with the book is not so much that the author doesn’t know and communicate the subject matter, nor that her thoughts on how the structures can be misused aren’t interesting and insightful. The main issue is that the editing is very poor - there are many instances where the book talks about topics which won’t be defined until much later, and it often veers between being very general and very specific.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2008If you are going to buy only one book on this topic, this is the one to buy.
First, it covers all the critical aspects of structured products: quantitative, qualitative, legal, etc.
Second, it provides an insightful analysis that makes it easy to grasp the issues behind the current financial crisis [What, Why & Who]
Third, it is written by somebody who understands the topics and has done the stuff (NOT by somebody who talked to somebody who thinks is an expert, but cannot know for sure because he(or she) does not really know the topic well).
Fourth, it is written in a style that is fresh and engaging, but precise: neither the pedantic language of some academics nor the infantilizing language of some amateurish journalists.
Chapter 17 (The Credit Crunch and CDOs) is a MUST for anyone involved in the structured products market.
ARTURO CIFUENTES
- Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2008This book provides an insider view into the opaque world of structured finance and collateralized debt obligations. With its clear explanations of numerous structured-finance innovations, I expect this book to become the "Rosetta Stone" for deciphering these markets.
In addition, the book includes a lot of nuggets of wisdom on applying a value-investor discipline to structured finance. This is something that I hadn't expected since the complexity of structured-finance instruments would give one the impression that this field is (and was) only a realm for rocket scientists. For example, in Chapter 5, Janet Tavakoli describes "The Leverage Paradox" whereby levering up equity (or even commodity) positions that are deeply distressed can make sense as a systematic strategy since the dramatic returns for correct bets can compensate for the inevitable downturns from such a strategy. But when leverage is applied to non-distressed debt securities, as was the fashion during the credit boom, disastrous results can (and did) happen with any air-pocket in the market, whether it is because of isolated cases of fraud or temporarily difficult liquidity conditions.
Top reviews from other countries
- SalvoReviewed in Germany on May 25, 2021
2.0 out of 5 stars More informative and anecdotical than educational
More informative and anecdotical than educational