Foreign exchange
Automated trading to compose 90% of futures by 2010
Pit trading is fading fast. An estimated 50% of all futures markets transactions in 2007 occurred through automated trading strategies – including market-making and quantitative black-box trading activities - and this proportion will rise to 90% by 2010,…
FSA cracks down on client valuations
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Nasdaq launches internet index
Nasdaq Stock Market has launched the Nasdaq Internet Index, a benchmark index which is designed to track the performance of companies engaged in a broad range of internet-related services.
Fraud and incompetence led to subprime crisis, Fitch says
Falling house prices might have triggered the crisis in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) based on US subprime mortgages, but analysts at US rating agency Fitch say the root of the problem was widespread fraud and incompetence in the mortgage…
$3 billion of CPDOs at risk of unwinding
Barclays Capital estimates $3 billion of constant proportion debt obligations (CPDOs) are at imminent risk of being unwound.
Teoh joins team to Pioneer institutional focus in Australia
Pioneer Investments has hired Stephen John Teoh as head of sales and distribution for its Australian business. The appointment is part of the global investment management group's increased focus on institutional investors in the region. Teoh will also be…
CDO shakeout puts spotlight on managers
Unsettled structured credit markets are causing investors to become more scrupulous in their collateralised debt obligation (CDO) manager choices, according to market participants.
Amerex forms REC purchasing partnership with Aramark
Amerex Brokers has formed a partnership with professional services firm Aramark Corporation to provide clients with an array of energy services, including the purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs).
Bear Stearns slashes 650 jobs
Bear Stearns will cut 650 jobs before the end of the year as part of the bank’s cost-cutting drive, after heavy subprime mortgage-related losses earlier in the year.
Freddie Mac sells $6bn in stock to ward off capital fears
Freddie Mac has announced it will sell $6 billion in preferred stock, in a bid to restore regulator and investor confidence and avoid breaching minimum capital requirements.
Ernst & Young partners with JWG-IT to speed up Mifid compliance
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Deutsche indexes capture currency correlation in Asia
Deutsche Bank has launched a set of indexes designed to capture returns generated by what appears to be growing coordination of currency policy among Asian central banks.
DIB launches sharia product
The wealth management division of Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) has launched a three-year, sharia-compliant, 50/50 Upside Note which provides exposure to the global equity market.
Natixis reports €407 million in crisis damage
Paris-based investment bank Natixis lost €407 million in the third quarter of the year, according to results released yesterday.
VAR exceptions reflect volatile season
Investment banks reported increased numbers of high trading losses in the third quarter of this year, highlighting the volatility in the financial markets and casting doubt on their risk modelling.
ECB re-enters money markets as fears of volatility return
The European Central Bank (ECB) will push extra liquidity into the money market to counter "re-emerging risk of volatility", it announced on Friday.
PensionsFirst aims to trade pension fund longevity risk
A new London-based firm, PensionsFirst, has announced it is trying to create bonds and derivatives to address the longevity and market volatility risks of UK defined benefit pension schemes.
LiquidityHub adds dollar interest rate swaps
London-based electronic trading consortium LiquidityHub today added dollar interest rate swaps to its fixed-income liquidity-aggregation system.
Covered bond market reopens cautiously
Market making in the European interbank covered bond market reopened this afternoon, after being closed since last week, but with new conditions imposed by its governing body, the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC).
S&P launches 130/30 index
Standard and Poor’s has launched of the S&P 500 130/30 Strategy Index, which is designed to measure the performance of an investment strategy that establishes 30% over and underweight positions relative to the S&P 500.
HSBC launches Climate Change range from proprietary index
HSBC is creating a range of structured products based around its Global Climate Change 100 index, to be targeted at investors looking for thematic and strategic investments.
S&P launches new suite of QDII indexes
Standard and Poor’s has launched a new suite of six benchmark indexes designed to enable Chinese institutional investors to gain access to overseas equity markets.