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Jefferson County head indicted on bribery, money laundering charges
The Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, has been charged with 101 counts including bribery, money laundering, mail and wire fraud pertaining to the award of lucrative bond transaction and swap agreement servicing contracts in exchange for financial kick-backs,…
AIG sells Swiss private bank
AIG, the beleaguered US insurance giant, today announced the sale of its Swiss subsidiary AIG Private Bank to Aabar Investments, the United Arab Emirates investment company, for a provisional Sfr307 million ($254 million).
Dealers vote for third LCDX auction
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association will publish terms for a cash-settlement auction on loan credit default swaps (LCDSs) referencing Hawaiian Telecom over the coming weeks.
Deutsche Börse lists exchange-traded Xetra Gold in Luxembourg
Deutsche Börse Commodities has listed a new exchange-traded product for investors in Luxembourg, offering the option for delivery in physical gold. The notes, which are zero coupon bonds denominated in gold, are fully liquid and listed on the Frankfurt…
Commodities head Morgan Metters departs UBS
Morgan Metters has left his position as executive director of commodity index products at UBS in London. The bank declined to comment on Metters' departure.
Government takes majority stake in RBS
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is now majority owned by the government after receiving a £20 billion bailout.
Asian hedge fund business may halve
The hedge fund business in Asia is set to shrink by 33-50% in managed assets during the coming year, as fund managers face redemptions and struggle to put on successful trading strategies that do not require significant amounts of leverage.
Former UBS executives return bonuses
Senior employees who have left the troubled Swiss banking group UBS in the last year have waived or repaid SFr70 million ($58 million) in salaries and bonuses.
NDFA launches new growth and income products
UK distributor NDFA has launched two new structured products: the Capital Secure Fixed Growth Plan and Fixed Income Plan November 08.
Macquarie offers outperformance deposit
Macquarie in Australia has launched the Macquarie Deposit plus Access 200, a structured deposit which is designed to provide exposure to the outperformance of Australian equities.
Popular volatility indexes plunge
Record high levels of volatility in the equity market since September have caused huge losses on popular indexes that allowed investors to take short implied volatility positions.
QFII redemptions rise as crisis spreads
Concern over the health of financial markets has led to "a lot of redemptions" from qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) bond funds, despite their strong performance versus other China-Hong Kong investment schemes, according to Andrew Fung,…
ECB no longer accepts syndicated loans as collateral
The European Central Bank (ECB) has removed syndicated loans governed by English law from its list of collateral eligible for its credit operations only four days after they were originally accepted.
CDS market more liquid in times of stress - Fitch
The credit default swap (CDS) market becomes more liquid during periods of market stress, according to research conducted by Fitch Solutions, a valuation and product development division of Fitch Ratings.
Treasury urged to sell £100 billion in RMBS guarantees
A senior advisor to the Chancellor has called for the UK Treasury to guarantee £100 billion in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) over the next two years in order to revitalise the UK mortgage market.
Primus downgrade raises questions over CDPC model
Under threat of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange, Primus Financial Products, a leading credit derivatives product company (CDPC), has started buying back $25 million of its own stock.
US government still has room to manoeuvre, analysts say
The US government's move to rescue beleaguered banking giant Citigroup will not impair its ability to bail out other banks.
Iosco to tackle trading abuses
The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (Iosco) will crack down on "trading abuses", according to technical committee chairman Christopher Cox.