Swaps Pioneers Recall Wild West Days as Trades Go Digital
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Once, the market for interest-rate swaps fit in your pocket.
The year was 1982, when Thomas Jasper, the former Salomon Brothers Inc. banker who helped co-found the International Swaps & Derivatives Association, realized the time was right to open trading to speculators. Swaps up to that point had only been done in concert with bond issuance, locking them away as an investment banking tool. Jasper, 65, helped write the contract that standardized the trades, unleashing business and controversy on Wall Street for decades to come.