Experience Matters
Leslie Rahl • Peter Niculescu• Richard Horwitz• Frank Iacono • Dave Tyson
CMRA was founded by Leslie Rahl, a derivatives pioneer, a former director of ISDA, and a Board and Risk Committee member with a BS and MBA from MIT. Her partner, Peter Niculescu, is a former EVP of the $950 billion portfolio at Fannie Mae, a former Goldman Sachs MD and Head of Fixed Income Research, and a Yale Economics Ph.D.
CMRA has been part of the solution for most of the major Derivatives and structured finance mishaps in the last 30 years (including but not limited to: Banker's Trust, Orange County, HRO, Sumitomo Copper, Russian Crisis, LTCM, Columbus Day mortgage meltdown, Canadian ABCP, August '07, subprime, CDOs, CLOs, MF Global, Lehman, the 2008/2009 financial crisis, Volmageddon, Covid meltdown, Texas power storm Uri among others).
Our unparalleled experience in assessing what went wrong provides a unique perspective to our advisory practice where we focus on "make new mistakes not those made by others."
Experience Matters. We have been in the risk advisory business for over 30 years.
Our Partners and senior professionals each have over 30 years of experience that combines front line derivatives and structured finance expertise with academic credentials and advisory and testifying experience.
We combine our quantitative skills with creative, out-of-the-box thinking.
Our clients get the committed attention of our exceptionally experienced partners. Each project is staffed by one or more partners who are the primary interface and lead consultant or expert on each project.
We merge the wisdom of working through the crises dating back to 1987 as practitioners, risk advisors, board members, and experts in litigation with the up-to-date knowledge garnered by our active risk advisory practice coupled with our Board service experience.
We use our extensive experience with quantitative and communication skills to effectively "translate" complex issues for Boards and courts. We are equally fluent in the language of quants, the language of the court, and the language of the boardroom.
The lessons we have learned from conducting investigations, post-mortems, and as experts in disputes and litigation, inform our unique approach to risk advisory and avoiding problems.
Our experience as risk advisors, traders, treasurers, structurers, risk managers, portfolio managers, directors and risk and corporate governance experts complements our experience writing expert reports and testifying.
We have clients on both the buy side and the sell side as well as regulators, so we have a deep and unusual understanding of various perspectives.
Our extensive participation in industry initiatives over more than 3 decades that has included the International Swaps and Derivative Association (ISDA), the International Association of Quantitative Finance (IAQF), the Alternative Investment Management Association)(AIMA), the Mutual Fund Directors Forum (MFDF), the Buy Side Risk Managers Forum (BSRMF), the PRMIA CRO Group, Blue Ribbon Panel, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, Tapestry, and the Securitization Round Table among others has allowed us to impact the shape of the industry as well as to develop an extraordinary "network".
Explore Our Practice
CMRA brings deep capital markets experience to complex questions involving risk, financial products, litigation, regulatory matters and institutional decision-making.
Best Practices in Risk Management, Measurement, Governance and Oversight
CMRA has been at the forefront of the development of best practices in risk, establishing standards and criteria for the implementation of policies and procedures.
Effective risk management across an enterprise requires precise quantification of risk using state-of-the-art modeling, qualitative assessment of risks that cannot be fully quantified, and an effective governance, oversight and escalation structure.
Risk organizations increasingly report to a CRO who is integrated into business strategy, but the most effective Enterprise Risk Management programs are customized to the individual institution rather than imposed as a single standard model.
CMRA’s approach combines practical experience with analytically robust risk measurement. Experience gained from diagnosing and remediating financial-sector failures informs our proactive risk-management work.
Learn more →Testifying and Consulting Expert Services for Complex Financial Disputes
CMRA’s seasoned experts combine decades of direct capital-markets experience, strong academic credentials, and experience navigating direct testimony and cross-examination.
CMRA provides expert reports and testimony addressing liability, damages, valuation, market practice and other issues in complex financial litigation. Our work emphasizes clear, independent and well-supported analysis.
Learn more →Experts in Complex Derivatives, Structured Finance, MBS, ABS, and Repo
Independent Advisors for Regulatory Inquiries and Enforcement
CMRA’s principals have experience on both sides of the regulatory table. We work with financial institutions to assess facts related to regulatory inquiries and also help regulators navigate complex issues involving trading, market structure and market practice.
Our regulatory work has included matters involving:
- Derivatives across rates, credit, FX, equity and commodities
- Asset-backed securities and mortgage-related assets
- Treasuries and corporate bonds
- Structured products
Independent Risk Advisors to Boards of Directors
CMRA provides independent risk advisory services to Boards of Directors, including:
- Independent oversight of management’s risk function
- Construction and review of Risk Appetite Statements
- Review of risk governance, organizational structure, reporting and the role of the Chief Risk Officer
- Review and development of Risk Policies
- Board education and risk training
- Best practices in linking risk and compensation
Operational and Risk Due Diligence
CMRA’s team draws on years of experience conducting due diligence on alternative investment managers and M&A opportunities. We advise clients seeking to deploy capital and investment funds seeking to benchmark and improve their practices.
Our expertise in derivatives, structured products and other complex asset classes allows us to assess a broad range of equity, fixed-income and hybrid investment strategies.
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