News/Foreign exchange
TFS and Bank One launch energy clearing service
TFS Energy and Banc One Capital Markets have formed a strategic partnership to provide a single clearing process for both over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded energy products.
Credit Markets Update: Repsol spreads hit again over Argentina
The cost of protection on Spanish oil company Repsol YPF’s debt widened 50 basis points to 460bp/510bp today, in what traders described as a delayed market response to proposals last Thursday by the Argentine Commission of Energy to impose more…
Hedge funds open in HK
New Angles
SG to offer 'mountain range' funds in Asia
SG, the securities division of French bank Société Générale, has begun rolling out its ‘mountain range’ series of capital guaranteed funds in Hong Kong, four years after they made their first appearance in the European market.
Credit Markets Update: Spreads widen on weak earnings and equity news
Most of the activity in the credit derivatives markets was again seen in the volatile telecoms sector, with five-year spreads on UK telco mm02 widening by around 20 basis points to 440bp/460bp following weak earnings results on Tuesday, which caused its…
EU likely to meet critics on op risk capital charge, UK regulator says
The European Commission’s final proposals on operational risk in investment firms within the Commission’s new capital adequacy framework are likely to meet the objections of critics, UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) managing director Michael Foot…
Credit Markets Update: Spreads volatile in Fiat and France Telecom
Five-year credit protection levels for debt-heavy Italian industrial conglomerate Fiat bounced from 360 basis points-mid on Monday, to 405bp on Tuesday, to 355bp by today’s end, according to data from credit derivatives broker GFInet. Traders said the…
StanChart boosts FX derivatives team
Standard Chartered has bolstered its Hong Kong-based foreign exchange and derivatives group by hiring Christopher de la Hoyde and John Tan.
ABN Amro adds to European forex team
ABN Amro has hired Eric Murciano to its institutional foreign exchange sales team. He will be responsible for the Dutch bank’s foreign exchange sales - including options - to French financial institutions.
Credit Markets Update: Spreads widen on ABN Amro subordinate debt
The cost of five-year subordinate credit protection on ABN Amro widened several basis points to 38bp-mid as bond-holders bought protection after Moody's placed its Aa subordinate debt rating on negative review on Wednesday.
Credit Lyonnais to trade weather risk
Credit Lyonnais has set up a weather derivatives unit, adding to the recent thrust of new entrants into the embryonic market. Peter Brewer, who joins Credit Lyonnais from US energy firm Aquila, will head the London-based weather desk.
Asian investors look to structured credit
Low interest rates and tight credit spreads are fuelling an interest for structured credit products in the Asia-Pacific region, according to bankers. And a variety of structured and hybrid products are now being marketed to Asian investors there.
Credit Markets Update: Telekom bond re-pricing rumours pull in telco spreads
Rumours of heavy over-subscription and a possible re-pricing on Deutsche Telekom’s forthcoming €5 billion bond issue caused five-year credit default swaps on Germany’s main telecommunications company to tighten 10 basis points today to 220bp/230bp. The…
German golf club hedges against rainy days
A German golf club has become the latest European end-user to buy weather risk protection. Spectron Group, the London-based energy broker, arranged the precipitation-linked deal - its first leisure-sector weather derivative - along with French bank…
Basel II won’t affect most US banks, central banker says
The Basel II bank capital Accord will have virtually no effect on most US banks, US Federal Reserve Board vice-chairman Roger Ferguson said today.
Primus lures in Swiss Re’s Schaumann plus other key staff
Hilmar Schaumann, a senior credit derivatives trader for Swiss Re in New York, has quit the firm to join Primus Financial Products, a wholesale provider of credit risk protection.
Currency overlay may see strong growth in US
Currency overlay – the management of currency exposures in an investment portfolio separate from underlying asset exposures – is set to increase in the US at a rapid rate, claimed speakers at a global foreign exchange conference hosted by Deutsche Bank…
US minimum bank asset ratios suggested for larger banks
European banking supervisors might follow the example of US regulators and develop the concept of well-capitalised banks with higher minimum protective capital than required under the Basel bank capital adequacy Accord, according to some European…