Structured products
RAB runs absolute returns in its equity fund
Schehrezade Sadeque and Philip Richards concentrate on large-cap mainstream European stocks with the RAB European Equity Strategy fund and have seen assets rise to e758m
Strategic manoeuvres
Assets are flowing out of mergers and acquisitions into portfolios investing in distressed
S&P aims for index to provide transparency
BENCHMARK| S&P to base index on 40 funds invested in NINE strategies
A growing interest
An increasing number of UK pension funds are likely be interested in investing in hedge funds, thanks to the latest Code of Best Practice requirements
Gateway to Asia
Avenue Capital Group invests in Asia's distressed debt market through three of its funds
France develops new code of conduct for alternative investment
French investment boutiques are set to benefit from the country's planned relaxation of fund regulation
European bankruptcy laws must be clarified
LAW | Varying creditor rights makes distressed investing difficult
Credit Markets Update: Key investment grade names see sharp widening
The cost of protection on a number of European investment-grade names, including France Telecom, Fiat and Repsol, remained high on the credit derivatives market this week, as their spreads widened to more than 400 basis points.
The Impact of Basle II on the Dealing Community
Overlook the implications of Basle II at your peril, says Garfield Hayes, head of marketing communications at Wall Street Systems.
Credit Markets Update: Fiat sees curve invert
The cost of credit protection on Italian car manufacturer Fiat widened 140-150 basis points today, after rating agency Standard and Poor’s put the company on credit watch.
Rates Markets Update: Swaps see low flows with trading in narrow range
US dollar swaps continued to trade near record-low levels. Ten-year swaps ended the week at 54.5 basis points, largely unchanged from the previous Friday. Five-year spreads narrowed 8bp to 45bp. This contraction was nearly all caused by the five-year $90…
$7.3 billion in risk transferred in first index-linked synthetic CDO
JP Morgan Chase's groundbreaking index-linked synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) transaction, dubbed Horizon, has transferred $7.3 billion in risk - making it one of the largest-ever synthetic CDOs. The bank had previously refused to disclose…
FrontPoint hires equity arbitrage strategy team
US investment management firm FrontPoint Partners has hired a three-man quantitative equity arbitrage team aimed at developing an investment strategy generating low volatility absolute returns using liquid and risk-controlled methodologies.
CDO ratings hurt by rates risk, says Fitch
The market preoccupation with default rates negatively affecting collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) ignores the equal risk of interest rate risk embedded in high-yield cashflow instruments, especially for deals completed between 1997 and 1999,…
BofA moves to replace lost FX staff
Bank of America (BofA) hired four senior foreign exchange traders and three institutional forex sales staff in April, in an ongoing expansion of its foreign exchange division, following a number of forex staff leaving the US bank last year.
FX volatility drought clears as US dollar softens
The volatility drought in the forex markets could be over, market participants told RiskNews ' sister publication FX Week , as sustained losses in the US dollar last week brought currency pairs out of the narrow ranges they have traded since the start of…
Morgan Stanley set to launch European synthetic ‘Tracer’
Morgan Stanley plans to launch a synthetic version of its tradable custodial receipt – ‘Tracer’ – product soon in Europe, following its introduction of a Tracer index based on single-name credit default swaps in the US in mid-April, and its launch of…
FSA retreats on insurer credit risk transfer concerns
The UK’s Financial Services Authority today said it generally has faith in insurers that use credit derivatives as a means for risk transfer. This contradicts previous statements by FSA chairman Howard Davies, who signalled his desire to clamp down on…
BofA highlights danger of over-leveraged synthetics
The over-leveraging of investment grade corporate credit-backed synthetic collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) accentuated the impact of credit downgrades last year, according to new research by Bank of America.