Structured products
Centrica invests in 60 bcf gas storage facility
British utility Centrica will develop the UK's second largest gas storage facility through the acquisition of a controlling interest in the Baird gas field project in the southern North Sea.
Madoff feeders' due diligence attacked as lawsuits mount
Investors that lost billions of dollars to Bernard Madoff have filed several class-action lawsuits claiming massive due diligence failures by fund managers who placed money into the alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme, even though scant detail has emerged…
RBS signs up to UK's asset-protection scheme
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which today announced 2008 losses of £24.1 billion, has become the first bank to sign up to the UK government's asset-protection scheme, which will offer insurance against future losses in return for a promise to increase…
AIMA in bid to stave off imposed global regulation
Daily news headlines
US Wrap: Reverse convertible issuance slows from dominant providers
Reverse convertibles made up five of the eight new products issued in the US market yesterday, signalling a continued uptick in the structure's popularity. However, it appears that the most aggressive providers are showing more caution than they were…
New single-name CDS sparks hedging worries
Plans to reshape the US single-name credit default swap (CDS) market are causing concerns among some credit portfolio managers, due to a limit on their ability to get capital relief for hedges under Basel II.
Ambac pares losses in Q4
Ambac saw a fourth-quarter net loss of $2.3 billion, a slight improvement on its performance in the third quarter of 2008, when it lost $2.4 billion and a notable improvement from its showing in the fourth quarter of 2007, when it shed $3.3 billion.
US Wrap: S&P 500 exposure for the cautious and the confident
Two different plays were offered by Morgan Stanley on the S&P 500 yesterday, catering for conservative and more aggressive outlooks. One is a five-year principal protected note which offers 100% participation in the index and a capped return of 67-77%…
JP Morgan cuts dividend to build capital reserves
JP Morgan cut its quarterly dividend from 38c to 5c a share yesterday, in a bid to build up $5 billion in additional capital reserves.
Global carbon trading to grow by 20% in 2009
The global carbon market will see a 20% boost in volume in 2009, according to the latest figures from Point Carbon.
Bernanke: Public-private partnership required to value toxic assets
The involvement of both the public and private sectors is essential to accurately value illiquid assets before public funds are used to remove them from dealer balance sheets, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke claimed yesterday.
CDS: US bank levels blow out
Credit default swap 5-year mid-levels for structured products issuers (Friday February 20)
CDS: European banks continue to widen; US banks tighten
Credit default swap 5-year mid-levels for structured products issuers (Monday February 23)
Liffe blames regulatory uncertainty for lack of CDS clearing
Despite being the only firm to launch a centralised clearing platform for credit default swap (CDS) index trades, London-based derivatives exchange NYSE Liffe has yet to clear any trades, a situation it blames on the uncertain regulatory landscape in…
LCH.Clearnet bid sparks conflict-of-interest debate
A proposal by a consortium of major derivatives dealers to acquire London-based clearing house LCH.Clearnet has led to suggestions that banks becoming intimately involved in the clearing process could present a conflict of interest.
CAP details expose transatlantic split on capital
Today's news that the US Treasury and other regulators may compel US banks to raise capital levels puts them even more at odds with UK and European overseers, who have downplayed the need for more capital in recent weeks.
Trichet: Eurozone CCP will help improve oversight
European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet backed a central counterparty (CCP) for clearing credit default swap (CDS) trades in the eurozone today, in a speech that also called for banker compensation to be linked to avoiding excessive leverage.
US Wrap: Reverse convertibles strike back on February’s busiest day
The US market had its busiest day of the month yesterday, waking up a moribund week. The 30-product flurry consisted of 25 Barclays-issued reverse convertible notes.
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.
US Wrap: Barclays presents in quiet markets
Signs of life appeared in the US market yesterday following zero issuance on Tuesday. Barclays Capital launched four reverse convertible notes, confirming the revival of the structure. One of the products was linked to the equity of Burger King, amid…
CDS: Citi continues to widen
Credit default swap 5-year mid-levels for structured products issuers (Thursday February 19)
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.
CDS: Citi leads widening; RBS stable
Credit default swap 5-year mid-levels for structured products issuers (Wednesday February 18)