Methods and apparatus relating to the formulation and trading of risk management contracts

A data processing system to enable the formulation of multi-party risk management contracts, the system comprising:

• input means by which an ordering party can input contract data specifying an entitlement due to the ordering party and a consideration due to a counterparty, both the entitlement and the consideration being due on match of a contract, and at least one counterparty can input counter considerations for the contract relevant to a range of possible entitlements;
• and
• data processing means for matching a contract from said consideration and the counter consideration for the specified entitlement by comparing said consideration with each said counter consideration to match an offered contract with at least one of said counterparties.

A data processing system to enable the management of risk by the formulation of risk management contracts, the system comprising:

• data input means by which participating parties can input data concerning at least one predetermined phenomenon, each phenomenon having a range of possible outcomes and a future time of maturity, and
• data processing means, coupled to each input means, for pricing and matching contracts between participating parties, and wherein each contract is priced and matched on the basis of offering data specifying entitlements due at maturity for the range of possible outcomes for one or more of said phenomena, and registering data of the likelihood of each outcome in said predetermined range of outcomes at maturity for one or more of said phenomena, said offering data and said pricing data being derived from said participating party data.

A method for enabling the management of risk by the formulation of risk management contracts, the method comprising the steps of:

• participating parties inputting, by at least one data input means, data concerning at least one predetermined phenomenon, each said phenomenon having a range of future outcomes and a future time of maturity;
• and
• pricing and matching contracts between participating parties, by data processing means, whereby each contract is priced and matched on the basis of offering data specifying entitlements due at maturity for the range of possible outcomes for one or more of said phenomena, and registering data of the likelihood of each outcome in said predetermined range of outcomes at maturity for one or more of said phenomena, said offering data and said pricing data being derived from said participating party data.

A data processing system to enable the formulation of multi-party risk management contracts, the system comprising:

• input means by which an ordering party can input contract data representing an offered contract for a predetermined phenomenon, the phenomenon having a future range of possible outcomes at a time of maturity, and said contract data specifying the same entitlement for each said outcome due to the ordering party, and at least one counterparty can input registering data for said predetermined phenomena;
• and
• data processing means for pricing and matching contracts from said contract data and said registering data, said pricing including calculating a consideration due to the counterparty from each said registering data, and said matching including comparing said considerations to match an offered contract with at least one of said counterparties.