Risk magazine/News
Credit Markets Update: Repsol spreads fluctuate on disposal plans
The cost of credit protection on Spanish energy company Repsol fluctuated in a 50-basis point range yesterday, as traders took different stances on the impact of its planned disposal of a 23% stake in Spanish energy company Gas Natural.
US risk officers move to form powerful standards committee
Chief risk officers (CROs) at North American energy companies are planning to set up a potentially powerful best practice standards body, provisionally dubbed the CRO Committee. The committee is still in the planning stages, but is believed to be…
Island tie-up may give Instinet push to upgrade technology
The rumoured tie-up between electronic communication networks (ECNs) Instinet and Island could give 83% Reuters-owned Instinet the impetus it needs to upgrade its equities trading platform technology, parts of which are almost 20 years old.
Rates Markets Update: Swap activity dominated by interest rate speculation
Euro swap rates pushed up following increased expectations of an early European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate hike this week. Two-year swap yields rose by around 10 basis points on the week, five-year yields moved up 6bp, and 10-year to 30-year yields…
S&P alters its core earning methodology
Standard & Poor’s has reacted to criticism of its corporate rating methodology by changing its system for evaluating corporate earnings in the future. The New York-based rating agency will focus on core earnings – roughly defined as after-tax earnings…
DrKW appoints new deputy head of equity derivatives trading
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has expanded its equity derivatives business with the hire of Areski Iberrakene as its deputy head of equity derivatives trading. He is due to join the bank next week.
Lim bows out as Merrill EMEA fixed-income head
Merrill Lynch’s European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) fixed-income head TJ Lim has resigned, a move some observers believe is the result of his being passed over for promotion when the US investment bank reshuffled its debt division late last year.
GFI brings in leading academics for Fenics Credit
Broker and derivatives pricing software provider GFI has entered a partnership agreement with professors John Hull and Alan White, two leading derivatives academics, to develop a pricing tool for credit derivatives.
Prosecutions of Enron staff highly unlikely, says ex-employee
A senior ex-Enron employee at the heart of the scandal that led to history's largest corporate bankruptcy told RiskNews' sister publication Energy & Power Risk Management that he expects no prosecution to be brought against Enron staff.
Credit Markets Update: Key investment grade names see sharp widening
The cost of protection on a number of European investment-grade names, including France Telecom, Fiat and Repsol, remained high on the credit derivatives market this week, as their spreads widened to more than 400 basis points.
Deutsche to offer ALM research
Deutsche Bank has hired David Prieul and Vladyslav Putiatin from Lehman Brothers to provide asset liability management (ALM) strategy research to its customers.
RiskMetrics to provide credit data for risk managers
New York-based financial analytics company RiskMetrics, is to integrate benchmark and historical data from CreditTrade, the credit derivatives transaction, data and information services provider, into its DataMetrics product.
OTC derivatives volumes up 11%, says BIS
Outstanding notional volumes for the over-the-counter derivatives market stood at $111 trillion at end-December 2001 – an 11% increase from the end of June 2001, according to the latest statistics released by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
Risk managers leapfrog lending officers in bank hierarchy, says Greenspan
US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said risk managers are now overtaking loan officers in the decision-making hierarchy at financial institutions, with new quantitative risk management techniques a key factor behind this transition.
Chinese fund adopts Askari
Guotai Fund Management, a China-based fund manager with $900 million in assets, has adopted Askari’s TruView risk management system as part of it internal risk management upgrade.
Cantor's Fry to head TradeSpark
Harry Fry has stepped up from his position as managing director of Cantor Fitzgerald’s energy derivatives and market data business to become president of TradeSpark, the electronic energy commodity market-place formed by Cantor and its online brokerage…
Crédit Lyonnais boosts Asian team
French bank Crédit Lyonnais has made three new appointments to its Asian derivatives operations, as part of a drive to boost its interest rates teams in the region.
FXall hooks up 11 more liquidity providers
FXall has integrated 11 more liquity providers to its online foreign exchange portal, taking its total to 34.
Regulators to review abolition of Basel II op risk floor
Global banking regulators have asked their technical experts to look at the conditions necessary to eliminate the floor limiting gains for banks using advanced approaches to measuring operational risk under Basel II.
‘Witch hunt’ by regulators hits energy investor confidence
Current investigations by regulators into as many as 150 energy companies after the crises of California and Enron, amount to a ‘witch hunt’, according to a senior executive at Dynegy.
CreditGrades launches with three backers
Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs have joined JP Morgan as backers of CreditGrades, an online equity-based model that assesses the credit quality of publicly traded companies.
DrKW adds to credit derivatives team
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has hired two ex-Gen Re staff to boost its credit derivatives team in New York.
Average 10% cut in SME loan charges possible under Basel II
Loans to smaller businesses under the Basel II bank Accord would on average require 10% less protective capital than loans to larger companies under plans being worked on by global banking regulators.
Icap beefs-up Fra-Cross staff to meet demand
UK interdealer broker Icap has added new staff for its electronic forward rate agreement (FRA) matching system Fra-Cross, as volumes and demand from banks increase. It has signed up more than 30 banks for Fra-Cross, and the number of transactions per run…