The other side of the fence When the largest financial institutions become as susceptible to sudden collapse as the smallest hedge funds, analysing counterparty credit risk becomes an increasingly crucial part of the investment and trading process. But a

The definitive post-mortem on what happened at Bear Stearns has yet to be written, but lessons are slowly being learned. When rumours began to fly in March this year about a lack of liquidity at the investment bank, it didn't take long for a large number of hedge funds to pull the plug on what had been one of the most trusted players in the prime brokerage and investment banking business. Whether Bear's fall from grace was the result of its own mistakes or the spiralling panic in the market