News
MSCI and Lyxor launch tradable hedge fund index
Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), a provider of indexes for financial institutions, has teamed up with Lyxor Asset Management (Lyxor), a subsidiary of Société Générale specialising in structured funds and alternative investments activities, to…
AIG forex under merger threat
AIG Trading’s foreign exchange group faces an uncertain future, as parent company Connecticut-based American Insurance Group (AIG) prepares to merge its AIG Trading and AIG Financial Products subsidiaries, sources close to the firm told RiskNews ’ sister…
Polaris and State Street launch first ETF on Taiwan exchange
Taiwan’s Polaris International Securities Investment Trust and Boston-based State Street Global Advisors have launched Polaris Taiwan Top 50 Tracker Fund (TTT), the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) to be listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Trading on…
EDX London to start trading on Monday
A new equity derivatives exchange, EDX London, will start trading Scandinavian equity derivatives on Monday.
Nasdaq pulls out of single-stock futures business
US electronic stock exchange Nasdaq has pulled out of its joint venture with Euronext.Liffe to create a market for single-stock futures.
SunGard upgrades ALM tool
SunGard Trading and Risk Systems, an operating group of US technology company SunGard, has released a new version of its asset and liability management (ALM) software, BancWare Convergence.
Reuters and GFI strike credit derivatives data partnership
Global information company Reuters has signed an exclusive deal with New York-based inter-broker GFI to provide GFI's credit derivatives data and Fenics credit pricing tools through Reuters 3000 Xtra, Reuters Bridgestation and Reuters Trader terminals.
Wachovia bolsters credit derivatives team
In the latest of a raft of recent hires, Wachovia Securities has hired Christopher Shin and Kathleen O’Halloran Harris to its structured credit products group.
Central bank reports more leverage in swaps market
The second half of 2002 saw a sharp rise in leverage in the interest rate swap market, according to the June issue of the Bank of England's Financial Stability Review.
GASB issues new derivatives guidelines
The US Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to establish standards of financial accounting and reporting for state and local governmental entities, has issued new derivatives accounting guidelines for…
Risk ALM USA: mortgage investors’ extension risk balloons
The combination of a concentration of mortgage assets in ever-fewer hands and a dearth of hedging tools for short-duration mortgage portfolios has dramatically increased banks’ extension risk, according to Kamal Abdullah, senior vice president – fixed…
Long-only fund managers will adopt hedge fund techniques, says DB researcher
Many arbitrage techniques currently used by hedge fund managers will move into the long fund community, according to Leigh Baxandall, global head of equity derivatives strategy at Deutsche Bank in London.
Brunel offers new risk masters degree
Brunel University’s department of economics and finance will launch an MSc degree course in financial risk management from September this year.
Bank of England research backs Merton model
Analysts in the Bank of England's domestic finance division believe a Merton model for modelling credit risk is "a useful tool for assessing the riskiness of individual companies".
Bear Stearns hires head of fixed-income trading in Japan
Bear Stearns has hired Raymond Wong as a senior managing director and head of fixed-income trading for Asia and Japan.
Merrill's Rule moves to head Lehman's forex forwards team
Merrill Lynch's Duncan Rule is joining Lehman Brothers in London as global head of forex forwards at the end of June.
Lehman and Agricultural Bank of China close synthetic CDO
Lehman Brothers International Europe, the European arm of US investment bank Lehman Brothers, has launched an arbitrage synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) referenced to a $1 billion portfolio of 120 entities that will be managed by the…
SAS acquires OpRisk Analytics
SAS, the North Carolina-based data management software vendor, announced that it has acquired the principal assets of OpRisk Analytics, a Connecticut-based operational risk analytics company. It did not disclose financial terms.
Basel II heralds a new ‘golden age’ for risk, says BofE's Jackson
Basel II is creating a new lingua franca for risk that will usher in a “golden age” of risk management, said Patricia Jackson, special adviser to the Bank of England, at Risk magazine’s Basel II Forum in London today. The debates surrounding the wording…
ABN Amro appoints Mullen to head hedge fund sales
Dutch bank ABN Amro has appointed Alistair Mullen as global head of hedge fund sales in London.
SAS acquires OpRisk Analytics
SAS, the North Carolina-based data management software vendor, announced that it has acquired the principal assets of OpRisk Analytics, a Connecticut-based operational risk analytics company. It did not disclose financial terms.
Euronext.life to launch FTSEurofirst index derivatives
Euronext.liffe said it will launch futures and options contracts based on the FTSEurofirst 80 and FTSEurofirst 100 indices on Monday 23 June.
Isda publishes collateral asset definitions
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) published the first edition of the Isda Collateral Asset Definitions this week. The definitions standardise the descriptions for the most commonly used collateral assets in various jurisdictions,…
BNP Paribas launches Australian dollar synthetic CDO
French bank BNP Paribas has launched an Australian dollar-denominated synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) in an effort to appeal to Australia’s institutional investor base.