News
FASB must not 'cave in' on employee stock options treatment, says S&P index chief
US accounting standards setter, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), should not "cave in" to corporate pressure by failing to require that companies treat employee stock options as an expense, warned David Blitzer, chairman of S&P's index…
Tullett signs up to SwapsWire
Inter-dealer broker Tullett today said it has joined the industry-backed electronic platform SwapsWire to provide its interest rate derivatives clients with straight-through-processing (STP) capabilities. SwapsWire, built by a consortium of 23…
Corporates not properly hedging equity exposures, says UBS banker
Corporate accounting scandals and weak equity markets have made companies use less equity derivatives strategies, and this is to their detriment, according to a senior investment banker speaking today at the San Antonio Risk Management Conference.
Merrill to settle its forex trades via Citi
Citigroup has won a coveted deal to settle Merrill Lynch’s forex trades on its behalf on the new Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) service for FX.
Nybot launches market data service
The New York Board of Trade (Nybot) last week launched Nybotlive, which delivers real-time global futures and options data over the internet.
Goldman down, Bear Stearns up in Q1 forex
Goldman Sachs last week reported reduced foreign exchange revenues within its fixed-income, currency and commodities (FICC) division for Q1, although other US investment banks fared better.
Dhown joins Deutsche from JP Morgan Chase
Deutsche Bank has hired Raj Dhown, who previously sold structured interest rate and credit derivatives products at JP Morgan Chase, as head of UK, Scandinavia, Holland and Ireland fixed-income, cash and derivatives marketing.
KMV enhances Portfolio Manager analytics
Moody's KMV, a provider of quantitative credit risk tools to investors and corporations, has added its LossCalc model to its Portfolio Manager risk management product. LossCalc is used to determine the risk and return characteristics of portfolios of…
Deutsche hires Sekiguchi as head of emerging markets strategy
Deutsche Bank has appointed David Sekiguchi as global head of emerging markets strategy, in a role that covers research on fixed income, foreign exchange, interest rate and credit derivatives, structured products and macroeconomic analysis.
CMA to use Creditex data
Credit Market Analysis (CMA) is to use Creditex's credit default swaps (CDS) pricing data within its credit analytics.
European credit spreads remain tight
Spreads in the credit derivatives market continued to stay tight in Europe this week, based on expectations of a swift war in Iraq. London-based traders said overall liquidity has remained very thin since the official start of the conflict on Wednesday.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange to launch Russell 1000 futures
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) plans to launch its new Russell 1000 futures contracts on April 28. The new stock index futures will trade on the CME's Globex electronic platform virtually 24 hours a day.
Driving down fixed costs
Outsourcing could be the key to institutions keeping up with the cost of installing technologies able to cope with CLS, Basel II and STP, and could provide a vital comfort zone in future-proofing your IT.
GFI launches Hull and White credit derivatives calculator
New York-based inter-dealer broker GFI has launched its credit derivatives pricing tool, Fenics Credit. GFI partnered with risk management and derivatives academics John Hull and Alan White to develop the tool.
Japan’s SMBC to launch ¥1 trillion balance sheet synthetic CLO
Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is preparing to launch its second balance sheet synthetic collateralised loan obligation on March 24, ahead of the fiscal year end, with a ¥1 trillion ($8.35 billion) transaction.
Japanese credit spreads resilient to war on Iraq
Credit protection on Japanese names remained tight today despite the outset of war on Iraq, with volumes traded in the market on the whole fairly subdued.
Merrill boosts structured products team in Asia
Merrill Lynch has bolstered its Asia-Pacific debt markets team with the addition of six new hires around the region. The newcomers will focus on structured products for both asset and liability customers.
Confidence of a speedy war in Iraq sparks rise in protection selling
Growing confidence that the US could achieve a swift victory in the pending war in Iraq promoted an increase in sellers active in the credit default swap (CDS) market. Traders said spreads were now contracting in line with the equity market rally.
RBS hires North American FX structurer
The North American financial markets division of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has hired Robert Jen from ABN Amro as vice-president in foreign exchange structuring.
ING hires director and head of financial engineering in Asia
ING has hired Geoff Parsons in a newly created role as director and head of financial engineering in Asia.
Mark-it Partners boosts headcount
Mark-it Partners, the UK provider of daily pricing information for cash credit and credit derivatives, has hired Stefan Trifonov from Raiffeisenbank in Bulgaria as an analyst, as part of an on-going drive to boost its headcount.
Isda survey finds credit derivatives market soaring
The credit derivatives market grew 37%, with total notional outstandings reaching $2.15 trillion, in the first six months of last year, according to the latest market survey from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.
Institute for Financial Markets names Hinko as president
The Institute for Financial Markets (IFM), a non-profit education foundation set up in 1989 as the Futures Industry Institute, has appointed Susan Hinko, former director of industry relations at online derivatives trading platform Icor Brokerage, as…
Citi to get new FX options head
Andrew Goldberg will join Citibank as head of foreign exchange options in New York on April 1, a source close to the bank told RiskNews ' sister publication FX Week . He will report to London-based global head of forex options, Steven Reiter.