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Credit Markets Update: Repsol spreads widen due to Argentina concerns
The cost of credit protection on Repsol, the Spanish-Argentine oil and energy group, widened 30 basis points today after Moody’s placed it under review for possible downgrade yesterday. Moody’s concerns reflected the ongoing deterioration in the economic…
GFI and ACM offer online freight derivatives
New York-based brokerage GFI has teamed with shipping brokers ACM in London to offer online freight derivatives trading on GFInet, the firm’s electronic broking platform.
LSE predicts UK equity derivatives surge
Clara Furse, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), today warned that stamp duty on UK share trading could increasingly damage London’s competitive advantage in international financial markets and thereby reduce the likelihood of the UK…
Credit Markets Update: Telecoms reeling on bad news
The battering of US telecoms credit default spreads continued this week, following a grim financial forecast by WorldCom last Friday that sparked a flurry of downgrades on the company’s debt. Five-year protection spreads on WorldCom widened to 1,700…
Hedge fund backed by Lehman launched today
Edgeworth Capital, a London-based hedge fund backed by investment bank Lehman Brothers, was launched today. The firm's first two funds, a global fund following a macro strategy and a pan-European long/short equity fund, will be launched in September.
Borsa Italiana launches new derivatives trading platform
Borsa Italiana, the Italian equity and derivatives exchange based in Milan, has launched its new electronic trading platform for derivatives, called OM Click. The platform, which uses technology from Sweden’s software and financial services provider OM…
Greenspan highlights mortgage agency concerns
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan yesterday warned that government backing for US mortgage agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, may prompt those that trade their mortgage securities to take excess risks. His comments are likely to further heat up…
TFS-Icap signs up DerivaTech
TFS-Icap, the hybrid voice and electronic broker for currency options, today said it has started to use the DerivaTech platform as its foreign exchange tool for voice-brokered transactions.
Major Spanish client for patsystems
Banesto Bolsa, the Spanish brokerage arm of the Banesto banking group, has signed up to J-Trader Gold, a derivatives trading service supplied by patsystems, the London-based software vendor.
JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche join Currenex as member banks
JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank have joined Currenex, the electronic foreign exchange trading portal. Currenex said the additions will enhance liquidity on the FX trading platform, and the news follows from the collapse of rival Atriax earlier this…
SGAM to hedge Santander’s Supersatisfaction II
SG Asset Management (SGAM) has won a contract to hedge an expected €1 billion of equity-linked deposits issued by Spanish bank Santander Central Hispano (SCH).
Risk 2002 Europe: Risk management remains an ‘art’, says Breeden
Douglas Breeden, dean of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, said risk management remains an ‘art’ despite significant theoretical advances in the subject, using the example of disparate pricing in US mortgage securities to illustrate his…
Risk 2002 Europe: BarCap head says Enron hires nearly integrated
Barclays Bank’s investment banking unit, Barclays Capital, plans to launch a fully integrated commodities risk management and financing service following its energy hiring spree during the past three months.
Credit Markets Update: telecom spreads rally in strong US equity market
This week telecoms continued their rally on the back of a strong US equity market, with spreads tightening by up to 10 basis points. But telecom equipment makers were punished by weak results from Nokia, and saw credit default swaps widen.
Isda AGM: Isda names netalytics backers
Robert Pickel, Isda chief executive, today revealed that BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Royal Bank of Scotland have all signed up to its online netting analysis tool, netalytics.
Isda AGM: FpML2.0 ready for widespread deployment
The latest version of Financial products Market Language (FpML) – the e-commerce standard supporting OTC trading for financial derivatives – which could potentially save the industry $1 billion per year in processing costs, has received ‘trial…
Rates Markets Update: Swaps ride out terrorist scare
Interest rate swap spreads continued in a narrow range this week, despite a slight widening caused by the fear that the crash of a small plane into a Milan office building on Thursday was the work of terrorists. Initial fears led to 10-year US dollar…
Isda AGM: UBS Warburg Energy to expand online product offering
UBS Warburg Energy may add interest rate swaps along with metals and currency derivatives to the online energy-trading platform it bought from bankrupt energy trader Enron in January this year.