This Yearbook focuses on the latest innovations in securitisation, including the securitisation of derivatives and alternative asset classes, and also exotic variations on the securitisation of well-established asset classes. Twenty-nine distinguished authors all of them active in the global securitisation markets as advisers, structurers, facilitators, or regulators brilliantly elucidate such topics as the following:

• synthetic squares as an effective means of arbitrage securitisation;
• collateralised debt obligations from a ratings perspective;
• use of, and potential for, synthetic securitisation in Germany and Italy;
• weather derivatives;
• use of equity derivatives as alternatives to credit risk;
• securitisation of alternative asset classes in Japan and the United States;
• covered bonds in a variety of European jurisdictions;
• new types of commercial mortgage backed securities;
• securitisation of non-performing tax receivables as an example of public sector securitisation; and
• securitisation structures in the Islamic regulatory and legal framework.

The complex and sometimes controversial¿issues of documentation are well covered, as are all significant legal and regulatory issues. Three concluding essays detail the recent changes in accountancy fuelled by perceived abuse of existing regulations, and the revised framework for capital adequacy formulated by the Basel Committee.

The Yearbook provides detailed information on the legal structure of innovative securitisations as well as recent developments in the accounting and regulatory treatment of securitisations. For legal advisers, investors, and regulators, there is no more useful guide to current and emerging trends and opportunities in securitisation.