Ken Kapner

Ken Kapner, CEO and President, started Global Financial Markets Institute, Inc. (GFMI) a NASBA certified financial learning and consulting boutique, in 1998. For over two decades, Ken has designed, developed and delivered custom instructor led training courses for a variety of clients including most Federal Government Regulators, Asset Managers, Banks, and Insurance Companies as well as a variety of support functions for these clients. Ken is well-versed in most aspects of the Capital Markets. His specific areas of expertise include derivative products, risk management, foreign exchange, fixed income, structured finance, and portfolio management.

Street with houses and the US Capitol building in the background.

Regulation, GSEs, and Housing Finance Reform

Last month, we published an article on the Volcker Rule and where to begin to incorporate it from a compliance perspective. The article, written by Lisa Kim Estrada, provided commentary on how to proceed with the task of implementing the rule and how to deal with the six requirements for a compliance program. The Volcker […]

Duration and Rising Interest Rates

It is difficult to read a paper today or listen to a business news report without reference to interest rates going higher. So I thought I would review the main interest rate risk metric used by fixed income portfolio managers: Duration. Interest Rate Risk Metric: Duration If rates do go up, how much risk is […]

Making Sense of the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) Results for 2014

Capital Adequacy is a financial standard which has been developed by financial regulators to ensure banks can absorb a reasonable level of losses before becoming insolvent. This is usually expressed as a ratio of capital to risk weighted assets. Assets are adjusted based on their inherent risk. For example, loans that are secured by a […]

Judge's gavel and money signifying The Volcker Rule

Regulation Implementation and The Volcker Rule

In my role as president and CEO of GFMI, I am fortunate to work with a variety of clients in numerous cities and countries. As you can imagine, in working with and visiting so many different organizations, I get a chance to discuss a variety of industry topics and to pick up on trends. Over […]

Risk Reversals

Risk reversal is a commonly used term in the FX markets. Specifically, a risk reversal is: An option strategy combining the simultaneous purchase of out-of-the-money calls (puts) with the sale of out-of-the money puts (calls). The options will have the same expiration date and similar deltas. A market view on both the underlying currency and […]