News
SG to enter structured bond business in South Korea
SG, the investment banking arm of France's Société Générale, plans to start offering structured bonds in South Korea by the second half of this year to cater for the growing demand for yield enhancing structures in the country, according to an official…
Hong Kong Exchange to allow more derivatives listings
The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, a unit of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), said it is changing its main board listing rules from July 1 to allow more derivatives products, such as equity-linked instruments (ELIs), to be listed on the…
Japan credit market update: technology sector spreads hit by Nasdaq slump
Credit default swap spreads on Japanese technology names were wider this week, in part due to the decline in the technology-heavy Nasdaq equity market in the US but also due to a technical correction caused by range-bound trading, dealers said.
Commerzbank boosts credit trading division
Commerzbank Securities, the investment banking division of Commerzbank, has moved Kristian Sharp to head its North American credit trading division and made two new hires.
Standard Chartered makes investment in Cognotec
Cognotec, a Dublin-based foreign exchange and money market e-trading system provider, said it has secured a $14.5 million investment, two-thirds of which will be provided by FinVentures, the private equity arm of Standard Chartered Bank. The rest will…
Barep and JP Morgan close $215 million emerging market CDO
Paris-based alternative investment fund Barep Asset Management, a wholly-owned unit of French banking group Société Générale and JP Morgan Securities, has closed a $216.6 million collateralised debt obligation (CDO) backed by a revolving pool of US…
Dynegy ceases online energy trading
Houston-based energy company Dynegy has halted trading on Dynegy Direct, its online trading platform.
Increased regulation for OTC commodities is unnecessary, claims Isda
Increased regulation for the over-the-counter (OTC) commodity derivatives market designed to protect investors is unnecessary, according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda). The European Commission is proposing regulation of…
S&P set to change BT debt outlook to stable from negative, says BT employee
Rating agency Standard & Poor’s is set to raise British Telecom’s (BT's) A- rating from ‘negative outlook’ to ‘stable outlook’, said a senior BT employee late yesterday.
ABN Amro hires head of FX option sales in Singapore
Dutch bank ABN Amro has hired Tan Huilin as head of foreign exchange options sales in Singapore.
DrKW hires Kobashi in Tokyo to offer risk management services to pensions funds
Germany’s Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has hired Yoshikazu Kobashi from Morgan Stanley Japan to oversee the bank’s corporates and pensions marketing in Japan. Kobashi’s team will offer risk management solutions to corporates and pensions,…
KDB sets up credit derivatives desk in Seoul
The Korea Development Bank (KDB) has established a credit derivatives desk following an internal reorganisation of the bank's derivatives operations and in response to the growing credit derivatives market in the country, said Hae-Geun Chung, head of the…
Deutsche hires European head for structured capital markets
Deutsche Bank has hired Matt Press as managing director and European head of structured capital markets within its global markets unit. The hire is a newly created position, said a Deutsche spokeswoman.
Credit Markets Update: bleak market sentiment and TMT woes drive spreads
European credit default swap spreads have continued to follow the equity market’s lead this week, tightening on Monday but widening again today. The volatile technology, media and telecoms sector set the tone for the wider market.
Liffe debuts Schatz contract
The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe) says it is pleased with the turnover of its two-year Schatz German government bond futures contract which debuted yesterday. There were 16,020 Schatz lots traded on the exchange,…
CBOT to debut five-year swaps future
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) will launch a futures contract on five-year US dollar interest rate swaps on Friday, following up on the success of its 10-year swaps contract, launched in October. The exchange also plans to offer options on the five-…
Korea's Kookmin Bank to launch equity derivatives desk
Anticipating an increase in South Korean equity derivatives activity, Korea's Kookmin Bank is looking to establish a dedicated equity derivatives desk by the end of the year, said Nicholas O'Kane, Kookmin's Seoul-based business head for derivatives and…
OTC market may have to accept regulatory change post-Enron, says CFTC head
The over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives industry may have to accept changes to regulation following the collapse of Enron, James Newsome, chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) warned this morning.
Single-stock futures regulation just days away, says Newsome
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is keen to hammer out regulatory issues related to the trading of single-stock futures in the US in "a matter of days", CFTC chairman James Newsome said this morning.
ING names new head of financial markets in Singapore
ING Financial Markets, a unit of Dutch banking and insurance group ING Group, has named Percy Rueber as managing director and head of financial markets in Singapore.
FXall and FXpress plan STP link
Foreign exchange trading platform FXall and FXpress, a Pennsylvania-based currency risk management company, are integrating their systems to allow straight through processing (STP) of trades.
Voltrex appoints European director
Voltrex Options, a derivatives brokerage house based in London, has appointed Arnaud Fransioli as director for Europe. Fransioli assumes responsibility for developing the company’s business on all main continental European derivatives markets, starting…
Crédit Lyonnais builds up credit derivatives capability in Tokyo
French bank Crédit Lyonnais intends to develop its credit derivatives activity in Japan, with two new hires, one internal transfer and possibly one further hire, said Edward Willems, head of credit derivatives in Tokyo.
Op risk is much more than a capital allocation exercise, says Moody's
Moody's Investors Service said banks should treat operational risk management as much more than just another regulatory capital allocation exercise. In a special report, the international rating agency said capital is "an incomplete line of defence"…