Creditex opens Asia-Pacific office

New York-based provider of credit derivatives data and trading services Creditex has opened an office in Singapore to cater for the growing credit derivatives market in Asia-Pacific.

“Asia represents an exciting and growing region for the global credit derivatives market,” said Sunil Hirani and John McEvoy, co-founders of Creditex. “Banks and other financial institutions in Asia are stepping up their activities in the market and we believe our trading platform offers an effective way for them to participate by offering extensive information, liquidity and standardisation in one place through Creditex’s RealTime platform. We look forward to being a part of this region’s growing market.”

The RealTime trading platform allows traders to monitor and update positions using a spreadsheet-style interface. Users of Creditex can also tap the trading platform’s data service, PriceTracker, which contains data on more than 1,400 reference entities.

Greg Shinnick, head of Asian business for Creditex, will head up the Singapore office, which has already transacted several single-name default swaps. Previously, Shinnick was a senior marketer in the firm’s New York office.

The notional value of transactions executed over Creditex increased two-fold in 2001 from 2001, the firm said. To date, the platform’s business has included single-name credit default swaps as well as structured transactions such as portfolios and basket trades.