Derivatives have long been a critical tool for many companies managing risks, such as interest rate and foreign exchange. On Thursday, we looked at the potential impact of fluctuations in commodities prices on current and future corporate commodities hedging plans.

However, it is not just prices that affect hedging programs, and many companies worldwide are on tenterhooks, waiting to see how global rules on OTC derivatives will develop.

A column published on Tuesday by Project Syndicate sums up the world's flailing (if not downright cynical) response to the financial crisis in particularly apt terms, I'd say.

The governments' efforts to restore confidence in the banking sector without really addressing the causes of its loss of confidence is akin to trying to tickle oneself, observed Paul Seabright of the University of Toulouse in the piece, entitled "Financial History's False Lessons."

European companies have come out against proposed EU-wide changes to the OTC derivatives market regulatory framework. The companies, including Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen, Bayer, and Lufthansa, backed a letter sent last week to the European Commission by the European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT) outlining their worries and suggesting that the changes could lead to another financial crisis if they are not tempered down.

The biggest concern is that the changes—found within the EC’s European Market Infrastructure Regulations (EMIR) draft—require more OTC contracts to be cleared through exchanges—a requirement that caused heated arguments in the US over the past year as OTC derivatives market legislation was crafted. In the US the current draft legislation—which is expected to be adopted soon—includes a large carve-out of this requirement for non-financial companies.

Corporate banking professionals are less pessimistic about Greece's financial condition than investors are, according to surveys by Bloomberg and by our editorial partner, the Benche, a website sponsored by the Swedish bank, SEB.

According to the Benche, half of its registered members, who work primarily in corporate banking, say Greece will fail to make timely payments of interest and principal on its debt.

Many cosmetics and household products manufacturers are a lot less green they they claim to be. That is, a significant number of the chemicals they use, in reality, are pretty dangerous.

And that's likely to backfire in a big way on a variety of fronts, according to a recent study by RiskMetrics, which evaluated 13 companies and brands for the chemical safety of their product portfolio.