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review:5 stars (Straight Steering in Structured Finance) - Even the experts have trouble understanding the various complex structures in the collateralized debt obligation market. In this book, Tavakoli does for CDOs what she did for Credit Derivatives. She makes sense of the confusing terminology, shines a bright light on the key issues, and discusses how to avoid the potential for fraud. She clarifies what the rating agencies miss. For instance, in a dispute between a German bank and a British bank that was recently settled in London, the British bank was alleged to have misled the buyer and then taken advantage of the buyer by substituting fallen angels into the CDO portfolio. Rating agencies don't capture this type of risk. Tavakoli explains how ratings won't save investors, but paying careful attention to the portfolio trading constraints in the deal documentation will. She recommends rewriting any 'standard' document that doesn't adequately protect an investor's interest by adding trading rules and restrictions (if it is allowed at all), reserve accounts, and other structural protections.She also debunks the term CDO 'arbitrage.' This 'arbitrage' is not risk-free for the investment banks who arrange these deals, but using this term gives comfort to bank managers who may be unaware of the hidden volatility in their trading portfolios. Very inconvenient when one can't transfer the risk to an unwary investor's portfolio. Tavakoli points out that single tranche CDOs in which one is long the super senior and equity and short the mezzanine tranche can turn the trading book into a delta hedging parking lot. She also points out that CDOs squared put you at risk for having some of the least advantageous structures stuffed as collateral into a portfolio. If it requires diligence and rewriting the documents to get a fair deal in a CDO, why would you accept tranches from deals that you didn't have a chance to rework? Put in this context, buyers o

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