The Government as Venture Capitalist

While the chance of a perfect storm with all of these risks materializing in their most virulent form is low, any one of them alone would be enough to stall the global economy and tip it into recession. And while they may not all emerge in the most extreme way, each is or will be appearing in some form.

The Group would take up the issue of threat and risk assessment, which the report did not address, in informal consultations.

Since all risks of financial loss are therefore assumed by the Organization and the participants, OIOS maintains its observation that the health insurance programme is essentially run on a self insured basis.

The system will be fed by multiple data sources and will allow the application of suitable risk and performance models for all asset classes, as well as stressing scenarios.

41. Capital exporting countries, in their turn, should eliminate any restrictions, legal or informal, on capital exports.

Capital importing countries should minimize internal risks and instability connected with capital flows.

The chief will be responsible for risk control of the Fund's investments as a whole in terms of portfolio risk, operational risk and compliance risk, and will plan and perform the oversight of performance measurement, investment risk analysis and operational risk analysis, including risk arising from sub adviser and service provider relationships.

Venture capital funds could be one mechanism to attract private funds for project financing.

A number of risk factors were identified, including failure, the loss of capital or closure and the risk of being taken over by foreign firms.

And she's an operator in a company in Silicon Valley, and she uses her contacts to become a very successful venture capitalist.

With small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) by far the economy s most important growth engine unable to acquire sufficient funding from the formal financial sector, they have been forced to turn to informal channels. As shadow banking has become the primary source of finance for SMEs which tend to be higher risk borrowers the financial risks in China s economy have grown exponentially.

The third area of discrimination is the taking of risk in pursuit of new ideas for generating revenue.

We can be very creative about thinking of different ways to reduce these risks.

The risks arising from the volatility of capital, which were currently assumed, for the most part, by recipient countries, must be more widely shared, especially by investors.

When investors make less risky loans, they require a lower risk premium , thereby reducing the cost of borrowing to the borrower.

Underlying Risk Factors

The 1996 amendment standardized protection against market risk (arising from possible changes in the prices of financial instruments in which a bank has an exposure) and in doing so allowed banks to use internal risk models to figure the required capital backing it also put regulators in the position of assessing risk management models.

The Right Weights for Mortgage Risks

Clearly, the insured risks were a small part of the total risk. Moreover, much of that risk, even if insured, continues to be borne in Japan, rather than being spread effectively to foreign investors, so Japan is still alone in bearing the costs.

The policy consensus has properly focused first on the new risks that were added. But focusing on those added risks should be only the first step doing so should not lead us to ignore the baseline risks that the tax system creates.

Earlier this year, Canada launched the Canada Investment Fund for Africa, a public private initiative designed to provide risk capital for private investments in Africa.

National investment insurance programmes exist in most developed countries to provide coverage for expropriation, war and repatriation risks.

The fund's objectives, typically, are those of (a) maximizing risk adjusted returns, (b) security of capital and (c) liquidity, and their respective attitudes to risk.

The risks to which the lenders are exposed in project finance are considerably higher than in traditionally secured transactions, even more so in the case of infrastructure projects where the security value of the physical assets involved (e.g. a road, bridge or tunnel) would rarely cover the total financial cost of the project, given the lack of a market where such assets could be easily realized.

Who will provide capital for the venture?

With the elaboration of a protocol, the Committee was eliminating the formal requirement for a statement of exceptional risk , but the element of risk as a condition for protection under the Convention remained.

However, this formal decentralization process has not worked seamlessly.

Recommendation 10. The Insurance Section, in conjunction with the Mine Action Services Centre, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, should perform a risk assessment of those demining activities for which the Organization is responsible. Formal guidelines on the various risks and insurance implications arising out of different operating modalities for demining should also be established so that the Organization s future exposure to liability is minimized (AM 97 71 5 010)

This volume of assets allows the Fund to expand its investment frontier and requires it to build up a risk control mechanism, to control comprehensively not only investment risk but also operational risk and technology risk.

A concurrent audit by the Office of Internal Oversight Services of the Organization s Security and Safety Service indicated that there were no formal policies and procedures for reducing the risk of accidents suffered by non staff while on United Nations premises in New York.

To that end, the Office will (a) propose measures to assist the Organization in responding rapidly to emerging risks and opportunities, (b) provide independent information and assessments to assist effective decision making, (c) provide independent reviews of the effectiveness of the use of the Organization's resources, and (d) promote a culture of change, including accountability, planning, integrity, results orientation and risk awareness and management.

The connection between financial risk and asset price swings emerges from the use of a new approach Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE) to understanding risk and fluctuations in asset markets. This approach implies that more can be done to reduce systemic risk, beyond reforming how risk is measured and capital buffers determined.

As in finance, ensuring that the originator of a risk pays the cost seems to be the most sensible approach. If each nuclear power plant was obliged to insure against the risk that it imposes on society (within and outside the country of its location), it would face the true economic cost of its activities.

The more broadly diversified our financial portfolios, the more people there are who share in the inevitable risks and the less an individual is affected by any given risk. The theoretical ideal occurs when financial contracts spread the risks all over the world, so that billions of willing investors each own a tiny share, and no one is over exposed.

Given these risks, an incremental approach to internationalization would be prudent.

Shortcomings in information mean that businesses themselves have limited data on opportunities and risks.

Fundline includes portfolio investment funds, private equity funds and companies, venture capital funds, mutual funds and other equity vehicles.

Moreover, in a risk off environment, when investors are risk averse or when equities and other risky assets are subject to market and or credit uncertainty, it may be better to hold negative yielding bonds than riskier and more volatile assets.

However, in my review of the 2004 work plan, it was noted that a formal risk management strategy to identify and prioritise risk indicators had not yet been implemented.

16. As a result, no standardized policy in risk retention and management had been developed across the Organization.

Such an approach should include assistance in mapping hazards and risks and the formulation and or revision of risk reduction measures.

Informal informal consultations

Informal informals consultations

Investing in preparedness and risk reduction