News
EU spells out pillar 2 powers
BRUSSELS – The European Commission seems to have spelled out how it sees the second pillar – supervisory review – of its new bank capital rules in greater detail than global banking regulators have so far done for the Basel II accord, banking industry…
OCC reports increase in derivatives notionals, but notes decrease in trading earnings
Derivatives held by US commercial banks increased by $3.1 trillion in the third quarter 2002, to $53.2 trillion, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said in its quarterly report. But the OCC also reported that earnings attributable to…
onExchange confirms it was bidder for Rolfe & Nolan
onExchange, the US back-office technology company, today confirmed market rumours that it made an offer to buy out UK-based financial technology company Rolfe & Nolan. Although Rolfe & Nolan rejected onExchange’s conditional, indicative offer of 85p per…
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.
COR sets sights on building North America business
COR Risk Solutions, a London-based portfolioanalytics software company, has hired ReneRobillard as business development director for North America – a newly created post.
Prebon reorganises derivatives business
UK-based inter-dealer broker Prebon Marshall Yamane has reorganised its cash forwards and derivatives businesses in London. Rob Osborne, formerly manager of the dollar off-balance-sheet desk, takes the newly created role of divisional managing director…
Commerzbank cuts in London
Commerzbank has shed four foreign exchange jobs in London, a source at the bank told RiskNews ' sister publication FX Week . Among the departures was Behnouche Mostachfi, a senior FX options trader, the source confirmed. Another un-named options dealer,…
Jones leaves patsystems
David Jones, previously interim chief executive at London-based derivatives technology company patsystems, has left the company’s board to concentrate on other business ventures outside financial software. In September, Jones was replaced by Kevin Ashby,…
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.
Academic voices dissatisfaction with Basel II
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision still has a great deal of work to do before the Basel II capital accord can be successfully implemented at financial institutions, Jacques Pézier, director of the risk management group of the ISMA Centre at the…
Nymex to launch OTC trading platform
The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) said it plans to introduce a trading platform designed for over-the-counter energy market participants in January, with beta tests beginning next week.
Lehman's prime brokerage to offer clients RiskMetrics tools online
Lehman Brothers' global prime brokerage unit will offer RiskMetrics' RiskManager tool to hedge funds, fund of funds and investors via its website, LehmanLive. The RiskManager service features value-at-risk, stress testing and 'what-if' scenario…
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…
Spreads widen on Munich Re, Aegon, BA Systems and Fiat
Credit default swap spreads widened this week on Munich Re, Aegon, BAE systems and Fiat. But traders said trading was thin and there was very limited movement in other credit spreads in the European market.
Japan credit default swap spreads tighten despite falling stock market
Credit default swap spreads in Japan continued to tighten this week, despite the equity market benchmark Nikkei index closing down every day since Monday, ending at 8,516.07, 347.19 points or 4% down on the week.
S&P slams Isda’s proposed changes to default swaps definition
Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services says it strongly objects to a proposed change in credit derivatives documentation language currently being considered by an International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) working group.
Moody’s counters S&P report on UK bank stability
Moody’s today countered claims by rival credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s made yesterday that the UK banking system is vulnerable to financial stress.
Viability of UBS’ online energy trading in doubt
The future of UBS Warburg Energy’s online energy trading service UBSWenergy.com is in question, as the company took the trading website offline on December 10 and prepared to lay off 290 of the Swiss bank’s 380 Houston-based energy employees. Ninety…
Barra acquires FEA for $21.25 million
Barra, the Berkeley, California-based risk management technology vendor, said it acquired Financial Engineering Associates (FEA), the privately held sell-side options and risk analytics developer founded by Mark Garman, for $21.25 million in cash.
Icap raises £3.3 million in annual charity day
Icap, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker, raised more than £3.3 million on its 10th annual charity day yesterday.
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…
Daiwa signs up to use Reech Capital's valuation services
Dublin-based fund administrator, Daiwa Securities Trust and Banking (Europe), has signed a deal with Reech Capital, the London-based risk management technology company, to provide it with regular mark-to-market valuations of the over-the-counter (OTC)…
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.
Basel II to boost both large and small banks' loan prices
The prices of some loan products for retail and middle-market corporate clients will almost certainly rise when banks implement the Basel II capital Accord in 2006, according to speakers at Risk 's Capital Allocation 2002 USA conference this morning.