ABOUT

Para Bellum Advisors

Independent Hedging & Derivatives Consulting

Para Bellum Advisors specialises in hedging, derivatives, portfolio engineering and treasury.

The practice works with institutions and corporate treasuries managing portfolios, balance sheets, hedging requirements and the derivatives and treasury frameworks around them.

The mandate is simple: understand the requirement, design the right solution and make it happen.

No products. No house view.

Grounded in direct trading, structuring and portfolio management experience.

PHILOSOPHY

SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM

“If you want peace, prepare for war.”

The right outcome starts with understanding what matters.

Understand the exposure. Know the constraints. Design the solution around them. Then apply the same discipline time after time, knowing when and how to adjust as circumstances change.

THE PROBLEMS ARE OFTEN STRAIGHTFORWARD

Wrong tenors. Mismatched notionals. Basis risk. Inefficient collateral. Policies that do not reflect how the business operates.

THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE DETAIL

How a hedge is designed. How a transaction is structured. How counterparties are approached. How collateral is managed. How a programme is governed. How decisions are made when exposures change, markets move and constraints evolve.

Each may look manageable in isolation. Getting them right from the outset can make the difference between a hedging programme that keeps running and one that continues to reflect the exposures, constraints and needs of the business.

Hedging programmes are best designed and tested in normal markets, before conditions force the issue.

WHAT PARA BELLUM DOES

Para Bellum works on financial markets, derivatives and treasury, from straightforward hedging requirements through to complex transactions and portfolio challenges.

Work typically spans:

FX, Rates, Credit, Equity and Volatility hedging
Portfolio engineering, overlays and capital efficiency
Derivatives structuring and trade architecture
Trade execution planning and transaction support
Trading and risk infrastructure design
Funding and financing structures
FX policy frameworks, hedging mandates and derivatives infrastructure for corporate treasuries

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The work is designed to translate directly into decisions, transactions and operating frameworks.

VIEW CAPABILITIES

HOW IT WORKS

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INDEPENDENT

No product pushing. No conflicted incentives. Driven by the client’s objectives, not distribution.

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HANDS-ON

Stays close to the exposures, the programmes and the decisions that matter.

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PRAGMATIC

Solutions are designed to fit portfolios, balance sheets, committees and risk constraints.

FOUNDER

MIKE DUNCAN

THE PORTFOLIO SURGEON

Mike brings experience across trading, structuring, portfolio management and risk to his mandates, connecting individual transactions to their broader portfolio and balance sheet impact.

He helps clients design better hedge frameworks, structure transactions, improve capital efficiency and build the financial markets and treasury capabilities they need.

30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

Since 1995, in trading, structuring, risk and portfolio management.

INSTITUTIONAL EXPERIENCE

Senior roles at global banks, insurers and investment firms in Asia-Pacific and Europe, covering cash and derivative markets, hedging, portfolio management and balance sheet efficiency.

FRONT OFFICE

Derivatives, structuring, portfolio management and front-office risk.

BUILT & OPERATED

Has designed and built derivatives and treasury capabilities from the ground up, including the infrastructure, systems, processes and frameworks that make them work.

Bachelor of Commerce (University of Otago)
Master of Applied Finance (Macquarie University)
Master of Business Administration (Macquarie University)
FlexiMasters in Financial Technology (Nanyang Technological University)

LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN

Have a requirement, a decision to make or something you want to do better?

LET'S TALK