Structured products
Auction rates securities investigations gathering steam
Regulatory investigations into the collapse of the auction rate securities (ARS) market are getting under way in the US, while investors stuck holding illiquid paper turn to the fledgling secondary market in an attempt to unwind their positions.
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Dividend option market tipped for growth
Dividend swaps have been under pressure since the onset of the credit crisis, as fears of dividend cuts have caused the historically steep curve to flatten considerably. But, despite gloomy economic forecasts, the investor base appears to be expanding,…
Can the Icelandic meltdown be avoided?
Fears over the strength of the Icelandic banking system have caused the wholesale system to shut on Icelandic banks, prompting the country’s central bank to hike interest rates to record levels. At first sight, the initiative appears to have worked, with…
JP Morgan unveils new ETF series
JP Morgan has launched a new series of exchange traded funds (ETFs) comprising four ETFs which provide exposure to the performance of European fixed income bonds. The ETFs track the sub-indexes of JP Morgan’s European Monetary Union Government Bond Index…
Markit to launch synthetic municipal bond index
Markit plans to launch its Markit MCDX index on May 6, an index of 50 municipal bond credit default swaps (CDS).
ABN Amro rolls out another sharia investment in Middle East
ABN Amro has launched the Islamic Basic Resources and Energy Basket Yield Discovery Certificate for investors in the Middle East, a sharia-compliant product, which is designed to provide exposure to the energy and basic resources sectors.
Swiss Re’s Conning to manage post 2012 fund
Conning Asset Management Limited, a fully-owned subsidiary of Swiss Re, has been appointed to manage a pioneering EUR 125 million post-2012 Carbon Credit Fund.
KfW board changed in wake of IKB woes
Ingrid Matthaus-Maier has signalled her intention to retire in September from the board of KfW Bankengruppe, the Frankfurt-based federal German bank.
EC outlines changes to Capital Requirements Directive
The European Commission (EC) has launched a public consultation on over 50 technical changes to the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), which sets out the regulatory capital financial institutions must hold to cover their liabilities.
Emerging markets could produce next boom-bust cycle
As regulators clamp down on securitised products, leveraged investors are racing to new markets. JP Morgan analysts say the crisis might be shifting leverage from structured products to emerging markets.
UBS and Merrill Lynch lose energy traders
The latest sub prime mortgage-related write downs at investment banks UBS and Merrill Lynch, have hit their energy trading arms, and a number of traders have resigned or been made redundant in recent days.
AMI releases UK mortgage proposals
Daily news headlines
Fallon calls for central banks to take charge
Responsibility for banking supervision must reside with central banks, insists a former UK government minister.
UBS launches dry freight index
UBS has launched a tradeable index with dry freight derivatives as the underlying, dubbed the UBS Blue Sea Index (UBS-BSI).
UBS launches tradable investment benchmark for freight derivatives
UBS Investment Bank has launched the UBS Blue Sea Index, a tradable benchmark for global investments in the freight derivatives market, constructed using liquid, actively traded dry-bulk Forward Freight Agreements (FFAs). “The UBS Blue Sea Index opens up…
Commerz launches its first structured product for UK market
Commerzbank Corporates & Markets (CBCM) has launched its first structured product targeted at the UK market. The UK Premia Fund is a Ucits III compliant fund linked to the Commerzbank Rolling Reverse Convertible Strategy index UK (Cobarc UK). The index…
UBS launches freight market investor index
Investment Bank UBS has launched the UBS Blue Sea Index (UBS-BSI), the first tradable investment index in the dry freight derivatives market.
IDBI Fortis Life offers structured products in India
IDBI Fortis Life – a joint venture between state-run Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), Indian commercial bank Federal Bank and Belgian-Dutch bank Fortis – has received approval to sell a range of structured products in India.
Invesco PowerShares unveils first active equity ETFs
Invesco PowerShares has launched the first three actively managed equity exchnage traded funds (ETFs), as well as an actively managed fixed-income ETF, on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca.
UBS report lists failures in risk management
Lack of attention, overconfidence and poor risk management procedures were at the root of UBS's subprime losses, according to a damning report released by the bank to its shareholders.