Structured products
Cad 3 - Against their will [full story]
Europe's asset management industry is chiding Brussels bureaucrats for trying to bury it under a mountain of Basel-inspired regulation, which could boost costs and capital charges.
Small firms welcome EU proposals
BRUSSELS - European investment firms welcomed the European Commission's decision to create a special regime for them in terms of the operational risk provisions of proposed new capital adequacy rules, according to trade bodies representing the firms.
Financial institutions must take lead in rebuilding public trust, says PwC
Financial institutions need to lead the way in improved transparency, but are uncertain about how best to improve their own standards of disclosure and governance, according to a study by financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
BNP to offer derivatives based on S&P Hedge Fund Index
BNP Paribas has been granted a licence by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) to deliver derivatives products linked to the S&P Hedge Fund Index. BNP is the first bank to be given permission to develop derivatives based on the index.
Europe's credit outlook remains bleak, says S&P
The most severe stage of the credit cycle may be over, but the creditworthiness of European companies and institutional borrowers will remain weak in 2003, according to rating agency Standard & Poor’s.
JP Morgan Chase and UOB Asset Management close $1.7 billion synthetic CDO
US bank JP Morgan Chase said today it has closed United Global Investment Grade CDO II, the largest synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) managed by an Asian fund manager - Singapore-based UOB Asset Management. It is the second United Global…
JF Funds launches Hong Kong’s first retail hedge fund
Hong Kong-based fund manager JF Funds is launching a hedge fund targeted at Hong Kong retail investors, and is preparing to launch a second similar fund some time next year. The two hedge funds, JF Greater China Absolute Return Fund and JF Asia Absolute…
Fitch to investigate credit derivatives risk concentrations
Credit rating agency Fitch Ratings is concerned that the rapid growth and lack of transparency in the synthetic credit markets could be leading to alarming concentrations of risk with specific market participants.
MBIA and S&P join war of words with Gotham over reinsurer’s AAA rating
Jay Brown, chairman of US monoline reinsurance company MBIA, entered into a row with Gotham Partners Management yesterday over comments made in a report issued by the US hedge fund. Brown called the report, which suggested MBIA should lose its coveted …
BIS: OTC derivatives notionals rise 15% in the first half of 2002
The Bank for International Settlements said total notional volume of over-the-counter contracts outstanding increased 15% to almost $128 trillion in the first half of 2002.
Cal-Comp Electronics offers US dollar-denominated convertible bond
Thailand’s Cal-Comp Electronics has closed the country’s first US dollar-denominated convertible bond since the Asian financial crisis of 1997, said sole bookrunner SG, the corporate and investment banking unit of French banking group Société Générale.
France Telecom’s imminent €1.5bn bond hits spreads by 7bp
France Telecom’s plans to tap the bond market for the first time this year with a seven-year, €1.5 billion bond issue caused its cost of credit protection on five-year debt to widen by 7 basis points to 280/290bp today.
ST Asset Management mulls CDOs and plans to boost headcount
ST Asset Management (STAM) is planning to increase its staff – which is currently 19-strong – by one third throughout next year, in a push to become a key participant in Asia’s structured finance market, according to Chong Jiun Yeh, a senior vice…
Japan's SMEs facing funding crisis
Japan's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing the worst funding crisis since the 1997/98 Asian financial meltdown, according Hiroshi Nakaso, associate director of the financial markets department at the Bank of Japan, speaking at Risk…
JP Morgan Chase prepares largest Asian managed synthetic CDO
JP Morgan Chase is preparing to launch what will be the largest synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) to date to be managed by an Asian fund manager. The $1.7 billion deal will be managed by Singapore's UOB Asset Management, say Asian investors…
ABN Amro to close A$1.1 billion Gibraltar synthetic CDO today
Dutch banking group ABN Amro expects to close its Gibraltar synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) referenced on a portfolio of global credit default swaps worth a notional amount of A$1.1 billion today, Paul Cordeiro, ABN Amro's Sydney-based…
ING provides swap for first Korean cross-border RMBS
Dutch bancassurer ING is to provide a 21-year swap for South Korea’s first cross-border residential mortgage-backed security (RMBS). “This is the first 21-year cross-border swap done in the Korean market,” said Marc Choo, a Hong Kong-based director in…
Asian high-yield bonds should prove a safe haven for 2003, says ING
Healthy economic growth in Asia and continued demand for Asian bonds from Asian investors – known as the ‘Asian bid’ – should immunise Asia’s high-yield bond market next year from the default problems plaguing the global corporate bond market in 2003,…
JP Morgan launches LSE-listed certificates
JP Morgan has launched the first listed certificates registered on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), targeted at retail investors. The move follows the launch in November of covered warrants in the UK.
Against their will
Cad 3
Wharton adds options data to online research tool
The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School is adding historical options data from OptionMetrics, a New York-based research and consulting company, to its web-based securities information service.