About Us

Capital Market Risk Advisors (CMRA), is the preeminent financial advisory firm specializing in risk management, hedge funds and derivatives.

CMRA provides institutional investors, funds of funds, hedge fund managers, mutual funds, traditional money managers, banks/investment banks, and law firms with consulting services including:

• Market, credit, operational and legal risk diagnosis
• Due diligence and manager selection
• Legal outsourcing
• New product development
• Reviews of practices and best practices benchmarking
• Litigation support/financial forensics
• Risk governance advisory and policy, procedure and guideline creation
• Compliance reviews
• Regulatory advice
• Risk Branding

CMRA employees combine state-of-the-art technical and quantitative expertise with practitioner experience and knowledge.

CMRA and it's principals are members of:

• High Water Women (HWW)
• 100 Women in Hedge Funds
• Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA)
• International Association of Financial Engineers (IAFE)
• Fischer Black Memorial Foundation (FBMF)

Risk Management/Trading Experience

• Ran in excess of $150B trading portfolios.
• In depth understanding of complex instruments and strategies.
• Experienced in new business development.
• Experienced with establishing standards for transparency and disclosure.
• Experienced with identifying and resolving problematic situations, including but not limited to, valuation issues, risk issues, trader issues, compliance issues, and operational issues.
• Extensive Market, Credit and Operational Risk Management experience.
• Extensive due diligence experience.

Legal Experience

• Litigation and expert testimony for a variety of complex securities and derivatives cases.
• Advisor to many U.S. and foreign banks, broker dealers, investment advisors and funds.
• Experienced in setting up funds.
• Extensive SEC, bank regulatory and CFTC experience.
• Experienced in new product development.
• Experienced in all aspects of compliance.

"Institutional" Client Expertise

• In-depth experience with institutional investors and their needs and practices including as a trustee serving on the Board of Directors of the MIT Investment Management Company (MITCO) and the Advisory Board of the $120 B New York State Common Retirement Board.
• Experienced in running large ongoing businesses.
• Extensive speaking experience, including presentations to boards of directors.
• Experience serving on industry boards of directors and boards of advisors.
• Trained board of CalPERs in risk management techniques.
• Reviewed risk management policies and practices for the Common Fund and recommended improvements.
• Reviewed risk management policies and practices for the Board of Directors of Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board (OTTP).
• Advised Florida SBA regarding effective use of risk management tools.
• Conducted risk assessment for Vanderbilt University.
• Advised Caisse de depot et Placement du Quebec in risk management tool selection.
• Advised steering committee of 11 plan sponsors on "Risk Standards for Institutional Investors".
• Conducted several surveys of institutional investor attitude towards risk transparency, etc.

Selected Fund of Funds Experience

• Provided M&A/due diligence support on fund of fund acquisition.
• Developed innovative guarantee structure for a fund of funds.
• Conducted due diligence on underlying hedge funds for many funds of funds.
• Commissioned by the prestigious Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) to prepare a research report on fund of funds vs. individual hedge fund investing.

Selected Hedge Fund Experience

• Provide monthly "fair value" opinions on an ongoing basis for technology hedge fund.
• Valued 100+ complex derivatives for the liquidation of a defaulted offshore hedge fund.
• Served as an expert witness in the Askin/Granite partners litigation.
• Advised the Federal Reserve Board of Governors on the risk management implications of LTCM.
• Provided valuations of illiquid positions for a global macro hedge fund.
• Designed and implemented a Value-at-Risk process for leading hedge fund.

Selected Investment Manager Experience

• Valued a portfolio of complex instruments for a major insurance company planning and acquisition.
• Analyzed CDO's of large investment manager and recommended both structuring and risk management enhancements.
• Assisted several money managers in selecting risk systems.
• Reviewed risk management requirements for $100+ billion money management complex.
• Benchmarked risk management practices of fixed income investment managers
• Reviewed split capital trusts and recommended restructuring alternatives.

Selected Regulatory / Financial Forensics / Litigation Experience

• Under the orders from the Fed, the SEC, the OCC and the NY State Banking Commission, CMRA conducted a comprehensive review of the derivatives business of Bankers Trust from 1991-1994.
• Orange County engaged CMRA to analyze the circumstances surrounding unexpected collateral calls for an assessment of the impact on the overall portfolio and investment strategy.
• CMRA analyzed issues in several litigations related to margin calls and liquidations of MBS and emerging market hedge funds related to the 1994 & 1998 crises.
• CMRA provided expert analysis and report in a corporate pension dispute.
• A creditor committee engaged CMRA to assist in the unwind of a defaulting counterparty. CMRA professionals valued over 100 complex credit sensitive emerging market transactions in order to estimate fair market values.
• A fund engaged CMRA to assist in estimating damaged related to the unwind of a complex portfolio under ISDA and PSA / BMA / GRMA agreements.
• CMRA authored an expert report in litigation related to the Sumitomo trading scandal that analyzed Hamanaka's trading strategy.
• CMRA has provided training and advise to many US and non-US regulatory authorities.

Regulatory & Industry Best Practices Experience

• Advisor to Risk Standards for Institutional Investors Working Group.
• Chair Investor Risk Committee of IAFE, addressing hedge fund transparency and valuation issues.
• Served on ISDA board, chaired ______ 1987 documentation committee.
• Served on AIMA Hedge Fund Committee.

"Notches On Our Belt"

• Involved in identifying and "cleaning up" several major industry crisis events.
• Involved in developing industry best practices following crisis events, including:
• LTCM
• HRO
• Askin
• Bankers Trust
• Orange County
• Money market funds that "broke the buck"
• Split capital trusts
• And others that will go nameless
• Extensive experience with valuation issues.
• Extensive experience with derivatives disasters and hedge fund blow-ups.