Feature
Internal affairs
Basel II
Growth in hostile territory
Convertible arbitrage
Return of a heavyweight
Sustained economic recovery in Japan will probably lead to the end of the country's zero interest rate levels in the third quarter of this year. What impact will this have on risk management and the use of derivatives? And how will it affect the…
Heading north
Q&A: Donal Galvin
NDF offers secure growth account
UK distributor NDF Administration has launched a secure growth account. The NDF Secure Growth Account provides capital security with exposure to the growth of the FTSE 100 Index. The product has a term of six-years.
Software company Fernbach introduces Basel II software in Arabic
Software company Fernbach has translated its FlexFinance Basel II software into Arabic. The software, which aims to enable banks to comply with the regulatory requirements of the three pillars of Basel II, provides a centralised data management structure…
Prompt Corrective Action can assist prudential regulation
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has published a working paper to determine if Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) on the part of regulators is the best method to use against banks with inadequate levels of book-value capital. The report, ‘Dynamic…
Europe lagging on Mifid implementation
Europe's financial institutions are unprepared for the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid), according to a survey by the international financial services firm KPMG.
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision leaves calibration of Basel II unchanged
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has left the calibration of its capital framework at current levels (1.06 scaling factor for risk-weighted assets) based on a review of the most recent quantitative impact study (QIS5).
Trade bodies slam FSA 'achingly difficult' guidelines to Basel II
Leading industry associations have called for the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) to make its handbook on the European Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) easier to understand.
Preparing for Pillar II
The German regulator published guidelines on the minimum requirements for risk management at the end of last year, partly to integrate the requirements of Pillar II of Basel II into German Law. Alexander Campbell talks to Helmut Bauer, BaFin's head of…
Amex lists CIBC notes
The American Stock Exchange (Amex) this week began trading Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Premium Yield Generator Notes linked to a basket of 10 large-cap US stocks.
Hong Kong regulator launches structured products TV drama
Hong Kong securities industry watchdog the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) launched a television drama series last month to educate the public on the features and the risks of investment products.
HSBC offers capital secured growth funds
HSBC International has launched a new tranche of capital secured growth funds (CSGF). The five sub funds are the World Double Bonus Fund, Japan Growth Fund, European Growth Fund, Americas Opportunity Fund and Commodity Growth Fund.
Ardour launches global alternative energy index
Ardour Global Alternative Energy Indexes, a US-based alternative energy index specialist, has launched a global alternative energy index. The Ardour Global Index consists of 74 global alternative energy stocks, and its related sub-indexes cover North…
Bumped along by Basel II
Credit portfolio management has become an integral part of many big banks' risk management. Smaller banks have lagged behind, but the planned introduction of Basel II next year could provide an incentive for more active management of their loan exposures…
Chairman of FDIC says three-year implementation period vital to safeguarding capital under Basel II
Martin Gruenberg, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), has said the three-year implementation period for Basel II in the US is vital to preserving capital levels. Citing the fourth quantitative impact study (QIS4), Gruenberg said…
Another Basel chapter closes
After three years in office, Jaime Caruana is to step down as chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Since May 2003, he has divided his time between Basel in Switzerland, where he oversaw the completion of the Basel II capital adequacy…
Qatar appoints Lord Woolf as a senior judge for its new financial centre
Lord Woolf has been appointed as the president of Qatar Financial Centre’s (QFC) tribunal. The move comes at a time when Qatar is heavily marketing itself as an important financial centre in the Middle East, in competition with Dubai and Bahrain.
Benchmarking ‘not enough’ to protect against conflicts of interest in Mifid
In a report commissioned by the FSA to coincide with its discussion paper, ‘Implementing MiFID’s best execution requirements’, IBM has found that benchmarking alone is not enough to protect against conflicts of interest when a firm is dealing on own…
Greenspan lashes out at credit derivatives industry
Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, has found it “appalling” that banks were trading credit default swaps (CDS) and documenting them on scraps of paper. Speaking at the Bond Market Association’s (BMA) 30th anniversary dinner…
FSA examines the feasibility of benchmarking for execution policies under Mifid
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK has just released discussion paper 06/3, ‘Implementing Mifid’s best execution requirements’. The paper, open for comments until August 17, 2006, will inform the FSA’s approach to Article 21 of the Markets…
S&P and TSX to create global gold index
Standard & Poor's and Canada’s TSX Group are planning to create the first real-time global gold index. Based in Canada, the new index will track key gold mining companies from around the globe.
Malaysia’s Maybank offers capital guaranteed fund
Malaysia’s Malayan Banking (Maybank) has launched the Far East Capital Guaranteed (FECG) - an investment-linked fund that offers exposure to two Asian indexes: Hang Seng Index, Hong Kong’s stock index and TOPIX, which includes all companies listed on the…