ERIK BANKS, an independent risk consultant, writer, and lecturer, has held senior risk management positions at several global financial institutions over the past 20 years, including Merrill Lynch, Citibank, and XL Capital. He is the author of 18 books on risk, derivatives, governance, and merchant banking, including the John Wiley titles Alternative Risk Transfer, Exchange-Traded Derivatives, The Simple Rules of Risk, and E-Finance.