News
Goldman Sachs re-enters power generation sector
Investment bank Goldman Sachs is re-entering the physical power market for the first time in two years with the purchase of a 940 megawatt natural gas plant from troubled energy company El Paso Merchant Energy.
US-UK regulators clash over Basel II implementation
Last week, senior executives from the US Federal Reserve and the UK Financial Services Authority clashed over the differing implementation plans for the Basel Accord revisions in a pair of speeches delivered to two financial industry trade organization…
Duke exits North America prop trading
Duke Energy has closed its proprietary trading business at its North American merchant energy businesses, Duke Energy North America (DENA) and Duke Energy Merchants (DEM). The move by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based energy company was not entirely…
SAS launches new risk management practice in the UK
SAS, a North Carolina-based risk technology and analytics company, has set up a new UK risk management practice for enterprise risk services. It will focus on helping organisations in the financial services and energy sectors identify and understand…
AXA Investment Managers hires CDO head
AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) has appointed Laurent Gueunier as head of investment-grade collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).
Eurex boosts new US exchange plans with ex-Goldman Sachs hire
European derivatives exchange, Eurex, has hired Michael McErlean to join the the Swiss-German exchange's US management team in preparation for the launch of a registered US exchange.
Sophis updates buy-side software
Sophis, a risk management technology vendor based in Paris, has released Value v2.0, a new version of its product for buy-side insitutions.
Isda AGM: Buffett’s criticisms of the derivatives market rebuffed
A wide range of leading derivatives practitioners attending the International Swaps and Derivatives (Isda) annual general meeting spoke out against last month’s comments by US investor Warren Buffett, in which he compared derivatives to “weapons of mass…
UK banks on course for Basel II
London - Most UK banks have already implemented dedicated Basel II programmes, according to a survey commissioned by UK IT consultancy Detica.
ABN Amro creates financial markets advisory team in Australia
ABN Amro has created a new financial markets advisory team, aimed at offering market risk and debt advisory services to financial institutions and corporates in Asia and Australia.
Moody’s sees record Japanese yen CDO issuance
International rating agency Moody’s Investors Service said today it rated a record ¥3.02 trillion ($25 billion) of collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) in the first quarter of the year. That compares to full-year volume of ¥3.14 trillion in 2002.
BoA axes global head of forex exotics role amid restructuring
Bank of America (BoA) has cut three management positions, including its head of global exotics, as part of an ongoing strategy to consolidate global foreign exchange trading and sales, a senior official at the bank in New York told RiskNews ’ sister…
Spanish exchange-traded equity derivatives volumes soar
Growth in equity derivatives trading, especially single-stock futures, helped Madrid-based mF Group post a 22.7%year-on-year increase in the number of contracts traded for the first quarter of 2003. The group is comprised of the three leading Spanish…
Japan credit default spreads resume tightening due to CDO activity
Japan’s credit default swaps market resumed its tightening trend with protection sellers coming back to the market as the new fiscal year started, dealers said today. Recent spread widening offered some arbitrage opportunities related to collateralised…
Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges in energy derivatives venture
The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) and the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop an Asian energy derivatives market, the exchanges said today.
HKEx names new chief executive
The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) has named Paul Chow as its new chief executive, effective on May 1, replacing Kwong Ki Chi.
European Commission publishes consultation results
Brussels - Over 100 written responses to a consultation on a new framework on capital requirements for banks and investment firms have been published on the European Commission's website.
BIS publishes raft of papers
The Bank for International Settlements published online a number of papers that cover a variety of aspects of the Basel II proposals. The papers were presented at a workshop organized by the Basel Committee and the Banca D'Italia in late March.
Barclays Capital hires Lacour to head vol trading
Barclays Capital has hired Franck Lacour as global head of equity derivatives volatility trading.
Derivatives marketer Major to head ABN financial markets advisory
Greg Major, head of derivatives marketing for Asia-Pacific at Dutch bank ABN Amro, is relocating from Singapore to London to take on a new position as global head of financial markets advisory (FMA).
Risk 2003 Europe: Liquidity risk best practice needed, says Nordea’s Hansen
The absence of either established best practice or sufficient academic theory in the area of liquidity risk management is problematic, said Mads Smith Hansen at the eighth annual Risk Europe conference in Paris yesterday.
Risk Europe 2003: Still no "best practice" for integrating economic and regulatory capital, says Buerger
There is still no "best practice" approach to implementing an effective risk management framework that integrates economic and regulatory capital requirements, Peter Buerger, head of group risk control at Germany's Commerzbank, told delegates attending…
Landesbanken to offer credit loss database to third parties
Three of Germany's largest Landesbanken and the consultancy BearingPoint are planning to bring a credit loss database (CLD) that they are developing jointly to the market in the second half of this year. The tool is being designed to comply with the new…
Risk Europe 2003: High credit volatility is here to stay, says Lehman’s Rieder
The high volatility of the US credit markets witnessed in the past couple of years will become a permanent market feature in the future, according to Rick Rieder, head of global credit at Lehman Brothers. Rieder, a keynote speaker at Risk ’s eighth…