Feature
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…
Rabobank taps structured products growth in US and Asia
Rabobank of the Netherlands is launching a New York equity and fund derivatives group and has hired Joseph D’Anna from SG Corporate & Investment Banking and Igor Tydniouk from Nomura Securities.
QIS5 presents no problems to the aims of Basel II, says Basel Committee chairman
Jaime Caruana, the chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, has stated that the results of the recent Quantitative Impact Study Five (QIS5) have not revealed anything that will require making substantial changes to Basel II.
Bies justifies backing Basel I for smaller banks in the US
Federal Reserve governor Susan Schmidt Bies has justified making only the largest US banks implement Basel II, by stating that smaller banks would have to spend millions to set up an appropriate risk system.
NPR release muddies the op risk waters
Operational risk executives are scrutinising the recently released NPR by the US Fed, which, despite clarifying some points, has nevertheless created new contentious issues. Choongo Moonga reports
The trouble with KRIs
KRIs are often considered hard to deal with, but op risk managers aren't dismissing them just yet. By Dianne See Morrison
Abbey adds to capital guaranteed bonds range
The UK's Abbey has launched a further issue of capital guaranteed structured deposit accounts, designed to adapt to changes in investment markets, developed through feedback from IFAs.
ING launches structured fund in Malaysia
ING Wholesale Banking has launched the ING AsiaPac Capital Guaranteed fund in Malaysia. The three-year structured protected fund is an investment in zero-coupon negotiable instruments of deposits (ZIND) and in a combination of offshore assets.
Mifid to be postponed again
LONDON – The implementation deadline for Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) was postponed yet again, but industry bodies warn that firms should not delay their Mifid plans as a result. The most recent deadline, of November 2007, has been…
Sarbanes-Oxley: not winning any popularity contests
The US's Sarbanes-Oxley legislation is proving pretty unpopular within the industry as shown by our monthly OR&C Intelligence survey. Ellen Davis reports
Nvesta’s new plan links to Eurostoxx
The UK’s Nvesta is to launch the second tranche of its five-year Income Plus Plan. The plan, first launched in 2004, is linked to the performance of the Dow Jones Eurostoxx 50 Index, and offers a minimum income of 4% per year plus a potential 3% bonus…