Risk magazine/News
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…
S&P: compromises could lead to “meaningless” Basel II
Global banking regulators must take great care to ensure the Basel II capital Accord isn’t overly weakened or even rendered meaningless by compromises over conflicting national interests, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said in a report…
Australian banks heading for advanced IRB
Australia’s four major banks are making good progress in implementing strategies and systems for Basel II, with all four banks targeting the advanced internal ratings-based (IRB) approach, according to rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P).
DrKW hires Kalimtgis to head new credit risk team
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has hired Evan Kalimtgis to head its new credit portfolio strategy group, which will optimise credit portfolio exposure on behalf of DrKW and its clients.
Dealers blast multi-bank FX portals
The future looks bleak for the remaining multi-bank foreign exchange trading portals, according to delegates at the sixth annual ACI European Congress in Luxembourg last week.
CDC Ixis’ new weather desk targets French clients
CDC Ixis Capital Markets has set up a Paris-based weather derivatives desk that will solely target French clients. The French bank will target the energy, construction, tourism and agriculture sectors.
Enron collapse a big blow to Europe’s energy markets, says EDF head
The collapse of energy trader Enron has caused a major blow to market confidence in Europe, said Francis Hervé, chief executive of EDF Trading, the London-based trading subsidiary of Electricité de France (EDF).
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.
Management quality seen as key issue in insurance regulation
The big question facing the UK’s principal financial market watchdog in developing risk-based safety rules for insurance firms is how to regulate for the quality of management in a firm, Sue Kean of the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) said in…
ASX to launch electricity futures
The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) plans to begin trading electricity futures contracts by the end of the year, according to an official at the exchange.
Insurers must work with regulators to develop risk models
The key to developing risk models for risk-based regulation of insurance companies is for insurers to work closely with financial supervisors to ensure their approval, professional services firm KPMG partner Jane Leach told an insurance solvency…
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.
Munich Re to set-up firm-wide ART business
German reinsurer Munich Re is forming a group-wide alternative risk transfer (ART) unit, in a move designed to strengthen its position in the growing alternative markets business.
Lehman boosts fixed-income team in Tokyo
Lehman Brothers has made two new hires to its fixed-income derivatives team in Tokyo. The US investment bank named Jeremy Martin as head swap trader, and Atsushi Ikeno as senior structurer and marketer. They both report to Satu Parikh, Lehman's head of…
Deutsche builds emerging market structured products group
Deutsche Bank has hired Hugo Faria to co-head its emerging market structured products area for the Americas. Faria will head the 14-person Latin America team, which develops products for credit, foreign exchange, commodities and interest rate risks.
BofA hires four to European fixed-income division
Banc of America Securities has hired Mitchell Lench, Andrew Panteli, John Oei and Jules Putterman to its European fixed-income division.
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.
Leading electronic swaps brokerages iFox and atenX to merge
Rival European electronic money market derivatives brokerages atenX and iFox are merging to form ATFox.
Shapiro to quit JP Morgan Chase; Winters promoted
Marc Shapiro, head of finance and risk management at JP Morgan Chase, will retire from the bank at the end of next year. Confirmation of Shapiro’s departure came amid a management reshuffle announced by chairman and chief executive, Bill Harrison, which…
Swiss Re launches $2 billion catastrophe securitisation programme
Swiss Re Capital Markets has begun marketing a $225 million catastrophe bond offering, the first part of a $2 billion programme, that securitises Swiss Re’s reinsurance exposure to five types of earthquake and hurricane risk.
Energy CROs committee set for public launch next week
The Committee of CROs, a body of energy company chief risk officers, will publicly launch next week. The committee has brought forward its formal creation due to the volume of industry enquiries following RiskNews' story US risk officers move to form…
Kamakura upgrades key risk management system
Honolulu-based Kamakura, a risk management technology company, has released KRM Version 4.0, the latest version of its integrated risk management solution that includes important new credit facilities.
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.
JP Morgan Chase may exit European energy business
JP Morgan Chase has lost nine of its energy derivatives traders, fuelling speculation that the US investment bank may close its energy operations, at least in Europe, following widespread cost-cutting and restructuring.