Foreign exchange
Crunch time for Solvency II
Daily news headlines
More MCAs needed to meet equity derivatives targets
Participants in the equity derivatives market say a significant amount of work remains to be done on standardising documentation before it can meet regulators' electronic processing targets for over-the-counter trades.
More ARS writedowns still to come
At least 184 auction-rate securities (ARS) holders are continuing to mark their notes to par almost a year on from the implosion of the $330 billion market - meaning further writedowns are inevitable, a new report has concluded.
Bank of Japan steps up support for corporates
The Bank of Japan has expanded its programme of supporting corporate debt, in an attempt to shore up the country's rapidly contracting economy.
US Wrap: Mid-week freeze
With tumbling equity markets pushing the S&P index down 4%, yesterday turned out to be the right day for no issuance in the US market. Despite continued volatility, the past week has seen reverse convertibles making a comeback: the poster child of US…
SEC charges Stanford with fraud
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged R Allen Stanford with orchestrating a fraud of a "shocking magnitude" via his asset management and broker-dealer advisory companies under the Stanford Group name.
Crunch time for Solvency II
The top European Union institutions are embroiled in trilateral negotiations in Brussels to agree on a draft text of the Solvency II insurance directive before the April 2 deadline.
MBIA lances structured finance from municipal business
Monoline insurer MBIA has split itself into two, creating a new business focused solely on US public finance bond insurance while siphoning off its festering structured product commitments into a separate legal entity.
FSA names chief operating officer
Mark Norris has joined the UK Financial Services Authority as chief operating officer.
SGCIB reshuffles management team to integrate divisions
Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking (SGCIB) has reorganised its management structure as part of a move to integrate its capital markets activities.
Pillars II and III stalled in global Basel II implementation
Daily news headlines
JP Morgan launches autocallable gold-linked certificate of deposit
JP Morgan has launched a new certificate of deposit (CD) for US investors linked to the price of gold, as the precious metal's price continues to climb. The CD kicks out as soon as the gold price, taken as the daily fixing level in US dollars per troy…
2008 worst year for hedge funds since records began
2008 was the worst year for hedge fund performance since data onalternative investment pools began to be tracked, with average returns of -17.08% across asset classes for the past year, a new report has revealed.
Eurex to launch commodity index futures in March
Eurex will be the first European exchange to offer trading in commodity index derivatives with the launch of four new contracts on March 30.
CFTC acts to shut out grain futures speculators
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved new rules designed to reduce distortions in the soft commodity futures markets caused by speculative activity.
Minor recovery in January for Swiss market
Swiss structured product market volumes made a minor recovery in January, increasing moderately from the subdued December 2008 performance which saw volumes dip to their lowest numbers for the year.
DNV suspension lifted
A major player in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) markets has been allowed to resume validating projects, the United Nations (UN) CDM Executive Board (EB) has announced.
CFTC acts to shut out grain futures speculators
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has approved new rules designed to reduce distortions in the soft commodity futures markets caused by speculative activity.
Don't rock the boat!
Editor's blog
US and European firms in bid for LCH
A consortium of major US and European financial institutions is lining up a bid for London-based derivatives clearing house LCH.Clearnet. Deutsche Bank is acting as adviser on the acquisition, as well as being part of the bidding group.
Asian airlines struggle with volatile oil prices
A major contributor to the large fuel-hedging losses suffered by Chinese and Taiwanese airlines for 2008 were collar strategies - the purchase of call options and simultaneous sale of put options. But some Asian carriers, such as Malaysia's Air Asia and…
US and European firms in bid for LCH
A consortium of major US and European financial institutions is lining up a bid for London-based derivatives clearing house LCH.Clearnet. Deutsche Bank is acting as adviser on the acquisition, as well as being part of the bidding group.
Fortis offers gold protection in Turkey
Fortis Investments and its wholly owned Turkish entity Fortis Portföy have launched the Fortýs Koruma Amaçlý 1. Fonu, an onshore gold-linked capital protected fund. The trade is the fifth capital protected fund launched by Fortis in Turkey.
Deutsche rolls out Asia-Pacific structured fund
Deutsche Bank has launched the DB Platinum Croci Asia-Pacific Fund, a Ucits III-compliant structured fund which is designed to provide exposure to the Croci Asia-Pacific index.