News
Regulators drive op risk innovation, says Meridien
Banks will need to step up their efforts to comply with the operational risk components of the revisions to the Basel Accords, says a new report from Meridien Research, a consultancy based in Massachusetts.
ABS market continues to grow despite volatility, says Moody's
Issuance in the US asset-backed securities (ABS) market reached $400 billion last year, with the market growing on average 26% annually since 1986, according to a new report issued by rating agency Moody’s Investors Services.
Ice opens doors to futures exchange traders
Atlanta-based commodities exchange IntercontinentalExchange (Ice) has received approval from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) permitting registered traders and locals with floor or electronic trading privileges on any regulated US…
New supervisory rules trigger alarm in Japanese banking system
The impact of a rigorous new Japanese bank inspection system is causing alarm at the country's banks, with many scrambling to shore-up fragile financial reserves ahead of its implementation in the next couple of months.
Westpac launches CDO of CDOs
Australian bank Westpac has closed a $1.25 billion synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) backed by a pool of structured finance transactions. The deal, arranged by JP Morgan Chase, is thought to be the first such structure issued in Asia-Pacific.
European credit default swaps tightening lags cash market
Spread tightening continued across the European credit derivatives market this week, driven by increasingly positive sentiment towards credit risk. But traders noted that credit default swap spread tightening lagged the cash market.
Reflated economy must be Japan’s priority, claims Moody’s
The outlook for Japanese sovereign debt would improve if the Bank of Japan (BoJ) took measures to reflate the economy, according to rating agency Moody's Investors Service. As the BoJ decides on a new governor to replace outgoing Masaru Hayami in March,…
Regulators focusing on clearing and settlement risks, says Tower
Business continuity issues involved in the clearing and settlement process are becoming a focal point for regulators, according to a new report published by US consultancy, Tower Group.
MacIntyre to leave DeAM for New York City fund
Desmond MacIntyre, head of European pension strategy at Deutsche Asset Management (DeAM), plans to leave the German manager at the end of the month to take on the role of chief investment officer at the New York City Retirement Systems fund.
GE Commercial to merge risk and insurance products divisions
GE Commercial Insurance is integrating its Industrial Risk Insurers (IRI) and Global Asset Protection (GAP) Services businesses into one company.
HSBC hires new North American head of FX sales and trading
HSBC has hired Ben Welsh as managing director and head of foreign exchange sales and trading for North America. Welsh joins HSBC from Goldman Sachs’ New York office, where he was head of foreign exchange spot and forward trading.
Cross-sector risk transfer regulations should be reviewed, say FSA respondents
The UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) recently released feedback on responses to Discussion Paper 11, which focused on the effects of risk transfer between the banking industry and the insurance industry via credit derivatives and related products,…
Bank of Canada’s Knight named new BIS general manager
The Bank for International Settlements has named Malcolm Knight as the successor to Andrew Crockett as general manager of the central bankers’ organisation based in Basel, Switzerland.
International Bank of Taipei upgrades reconciliation process
International Bank of Taipei (IBT) plans to automate its nostro reconciliation process to improve its operational risk by deploying SmartStream Technologies’ Corona transaction management solution.
New issuers needed for French securitisation market, says S&P
New issuers must be attracted if funded issuance in the French securitisation market is to continue to grow, according to Nicolas Malaterre, a Paris-based associate director in Standard and Poor’s European structured finance ratings group.
TradeWeb and Charles River partner for fixed-income product
Massachusetts-based trading systems vendor Charles River Development (CRD) and TradeWeb, a New Jersey-based fixed-income trading platform provider, have teamed to offer buy-side firms a fixed-income, straight-through processing (STP) service spanning the…
Agricole Indosuez to launch new credit-tracking index in Asia
Credit Agricole Indosuez is launching a new tracking index in Asia aimed at better representing the performance of the underlying credit market than current bond indexes in the region.
Merrill pitches CDS baskets as alternative to risky single names
Instead of confining themselves to riskier individual corporate bonds, investors hunting yield can find relatively more value in basket credit derivatives, according to research by Merrill Lynch.
Cognotec boosts sales effort with new hire
Dublin-based foreign exchange trading software company Cognotec has hired Kevin Galliers from Iris Financial as vice-president of sales.
DerivaTech buoyed by $7m in new financing
Chicago-based currency derivatives pricing, analytics, transactions processing and risk management system provider, DerivaTech, has secured $7 million in new financing from US venture capital firm Trident Capital.
Icap debuts i-Swap for price delivery
Inter-dealer broker Icap is rolling out a free service, i-Swap, to automate interest rate swaps price delivery and trade confirmations for its top clients.
Indian regulator delays derivatives trading on six stocks
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has asked the country's two major exchanges to delay derivatives trading on six stocks, following an investigation into an alleged stock market "scam" in 2001.
Citi merges forex and rates businesses
Citigroup has merged foreign exchange with derivatives and interest rate products to form its new global rates and currencies group.
Ethical ETF launches on Borsa Italiana
A new euro-denominated ethical index exchange-traded fund (ETF) started trading on the Borsa Italiana – the Italian stock exchange – today. The Ethical Index Euro ETF (ticker B1ET IM) is the first ethical ETF in Italy.