Feature
Restructuring reservations
Restructuring
A trick too far
Monolines
Back in fashion
Operational risk
The rates escape
A sudden inversion of the euro interest rate curve in June caught dealers and investors by surprise, causing losses for those that had put on curve steepener trades. Dealers rushed to hedge their short gamma positions, forcing the curve to invert further…
Luc Francois joins Morgan Stanley as global head of equity derivatives and head of European equities
Luc Francois, formerly head of global equities and derivatives solutions at Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking (SG CIB), and infamously the boss of rogue trader Jerome Kerviel, will start at Morgan Stanley in London on September 8 as head…
MSCI Barra produces global currency indexes
MSCI Barra has launched global currency indexes that can be licensed for portfolio management and benchmarking purposes, as well as to serve as the basis of structured products and other index-linked investment vehicles such as ETFs.
Arc launches latest Stepped Kick Out offering 11% return
Arc Capital & Income has launched the sixth issue of its Stepped Kick Out plan, linked to the FTSE 100 index. The six-year, three-week plan offers 11% at the end of the first year and matures if the index is at or above its opening level on the first…
Barclays Wealth enhances defined return plans
Barclays Wealth has bumped up the rates on its latest range of defined returns plan (DRP) investments, offering 24% in the three-year option (up from 20%), 36% in the four-year (from 30%), and 48% from the five-year (from 40%). The new products are…
DDQ unveils Global Water Portfolio
Dawnay Day Quantum (DDQ) has launched its six-year Global Water Portfolio, offering 100% uncapped participation in the S&P Global Water index. The index invests in 47 companies involved in water related businesses and tracks two types of water companies,…
Lyxor AM launches first ETF on Gulf region
Lyxor Asset Management, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) arm of Société Générale, has launched the first ETF focusing on Kuwait in collaboration with Coast Investment and Development Company, on the London Stock Exchange.
Db x-trackers launches first regional sharia-compliant ETFs on the LSE
Db x-trackers, the exchange-traded fund (ETF) arm of Deutsche Bank, has listed the first regional sharia-compliant ETFs on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The new db x-trackers include the S&P 500 sharia ETF, the S&P Europe 350 sharia ETF and the S&P…
Société Générale offers credit exposure
Société Générale has launched a new product offering exposure to the credit default swaps of speculative-grade companies. The investment is linked to the number of defaults in the iTraxx five-year Crossover Index.
Lehman Brothers launches second issue of Kick Out Performance Plan
Lehman Brothers has launched the second issue of its five-year Kick Out Performance Plan, with two options linked to the FTSE 100 index. One option offers an annual kick-out providing 14% and the other option offers a six-month kick-out, potentially…
Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 ADR Index licensed to underlie ETFs
Dow Jones Indexes has licensed its Brazil Titans 20 ADR Index for the first time as an underlying for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) in South Korea. The index measures the American Depository Receipt (ADR) prices of the 20 largest, most liquid Brazilian…
Nasdaq launches Ireland index
Index provider Nasdaq OMX has launched the Nasdaq OMX Ireland Index, a modified market-capitalisation weighted index which provides exposure to the largest and most liquid Irish companies that are listed on an eligible global exchange. The index has been…
Barcap’s Siddiqi assumes FX product distribution responsibility
Barclays Capital in Singapore has promoted Lutfey Siddiqi, managing director and Asia Pacific head of corporate FX and risk advisory, who has now assumed management responsibility for the distribution of the full suite of flow and structured FX products…
Keydata reverts to capital protection
Keydata Investment Services has unveiled the six-year 100% Capital Protected Growth Plan Issue one, its first 100% capital-protected product launched in five years. The plan offers 109.5% of any growth in the FTSE 100 index during its term, with no…
Arc unveils income plan offering 9% or 7.5%
Arc Capital & Income has launched its five-year Fixed Income Plan 7, which offers an annual income of 9% for the higher income option or 7.5% for the cautious option. Both the options are linked to the FTSE 100 index and offer the possibility of a…
ING unveils principal protected oil-linked fund in Thailand
ING is launching a new principal protected fund in Thailand, linked to the performance of the Nymex WTI Crude Oil Index. The fund was due to float yesterday, but has been delayed as the bank waits for the final approval on the index from Thai regulator…
Newcastle Building Society unveils intermediary service and range of products
Newcastle Building Society has launched its Newcastle Intermediaries Services (IS) designed for intermediary networks and independent financial advisors (IFAs). The new savings and lending brand offers a range of deposit-based savings products, including…
Schiro takes over global structured products at UBS
Vito Schiro has been appointed head of global structured products by UBS while continuing as head of European Equity Derivative Sales. Schiro will report to Jason Barron in equities and Fabian Shey in FICC, a group that was formed by integrating the…
MSCI Barra adds to thematics with agriculture and food chain indexes
Index provider MSCI Barra has launched the MSCI Agriculture and Food Chain indexes, equity-based indexes designed to measure the performance of the various components of the agriculture and food industries, from production through to distribution.
QuIC launches structured product pricing offering
Pricing and risk analytics provider QuIC Financial Technologies has launched QuIC Mechanics CDL, a structured products and exotics pricing offering which features a contract definition language (CDL) tool. Mechanics CDL can also be used for modelling…
FTSE & JSE expand sharia offering
Index provider FTSE and South African securities exchange the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) have launched the FTSE/JSE Shariah Top 40 index, which is designed to provide exposure to sharia-compliant companies from the Shariah All-Share Index. The…