News
BNP Paribas makes two senior hires to its equity derivatives team
BNP Paribas has bolstered its equities and derivatives trading business with two new hires. Eric Le Brusq will join as deputy head of equities and derivatives worldwide, and Todd Steinberg becomes deputy head of equities and derivatives for the Americas.
Del Missier and Kvalheim named co-presidents of BarCap
Jerry del Missier and Grant Kvalheim have been named co-presidents of Barclays Capital amid wider organisational changes at the UK bank. Both will report to Robert Diamond, president of Barclays.
EEX to launch carbon derivatives contract
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) plans to launch a futures contract for carbon emissions allowances in October, pending regulatory approval.
GFI and Traiana offer processing boost for forex options trading
Foreign exchange options trading may get a boost with broker GFI and technology vendor Traiana both launching automated processing services in the market.
BarCap teams with HFR to offer hedge fund options
Barclays Capital and HFR Group are offering transparent pricing for hedge fund-linked tradable options. Based on the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, BarCap will offer a two-way market in European call options to its institutional clients and counterparties…
UK's 50-year linker breaks new ground
The United Kingdom yesterday priced the first issuance of a 50-year inflation-linked bond. The 1 1/4% gilt of 2055 is the longest-dated sovereign index-linked bond in the world.
Nymex plans to sell 10% stake to private equity firm
The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) has signalled its intention to sell a 10% equity stake to General Atlantic, a US-based private equity firm, for $135 million.
OneChicago seeks BookDepth traction
Chicago-based equity stock futures exchange OneChicago is preparing a marketing push to boost usage of the depth-of-book data it now distributes over CFN (CBOE Financial Network) from its co-parent Chicago Board Options Exchange.
Lehman hires new FX forwards trading head
Lehman Brothers has hired Jason Margiotta from rival Merrill Lynch to run its forex forwards trading desk in New York.
Amerex's Prokop joins Energy Data Hub board
The Energy Data Hub has appointed Mike Prokop, senior vice president at energy brokerage Amerex, to its board of directors.
Citi continues risk advisory and structured products build-up
Citigroup has made two hires as it builds its foreign exchange risk advisory and structured products teams in London. Both teams sit within the bank's value-added services and products group (Vasp), which it established a year ago.
Basel II to reduce capital on rated securitisation positions
The minimum capital requirements under the new Basel framework, also known as Basel II, will lower the amount of capital that implementing banks will be charged for rated securitisation positions, according to new research by FitchRatings, the rating…
ING Vysya strengthens wholesale operations
Bangalore-based ING Vysya bank has hired Janak Desai as country head of financial markets for India. He will join the bank on November 1 and report to ING Vysya chief executive Bart Hellemans.
ABN Amro beefs up Asian distribution
ABN Amro plans to build up its Asian marketing effort by adding two staff to its derivatives sales and solutions group (DSSG) in Hong Kong.
Structured products in the spotlight
Concerns over the mis-selling of structured products to investors in the US have prompted the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) to issue guidelines to ensure members fall within the scope of sales practice codes.
Risk ALM USA 2005: Panel discusses differing approaches to ALM
Leonard Matz, a managing director at Kamakura Corporation – a Hawaii-based risk technology vendor – has cautioned against misuse of VAR. “I believe it’s a huge mistake to apply VAR to look at the funding [side] of the balance sheet,” said Matz who was…
Most US lenders would survive bursting of a real estate bubble
Research by Standard & Poor’s suggests that most US mortgage firms would be able to withstand the bursting of a US housing bubble, despite the greater credit risk associated with current mortgage portfolios.
Risk management key for freight, says Baltic Exchange chief
Baltic Exchange chief executive Jeremy Penn has stressed the importance of risk management at a forum of freight derivatives brokers and traders this week.
DrKW builds exotic equity team
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has added four members to its exotic equity derivatives business. The hires were made to expand the team and the bank's structured products business.
Five market-makers back CME eurozone inflation futures
Barclays Capital, Ixis Corporate and Investment Bank, Lehman Brothers, Nomura International and the Royal Bank of Scotland have all agreed to become market-makers for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) new eurozone inflation futures contract. The…
Lloyds TSB appoints head of quantitative analytics
Lloyds TSB Financial Markets has appointed John Crosby as global head of quantitative analytics and research in London. He will lead a team of quants and will be responsible for developing models for pricing derivatives instruments across all asset…
Icap bolsters structured credit team
Inter-dealer broker Icap is raising the stakes in the competitive structured credit broker market with three new appointments – two of which were poached from rival CreditTrade.
BNP Paribas adds to structured credit team
BNP Paribas has hired Damian Saunders as a senior syndicate manager in its structured credit team in London. Saunders will report to Guy Rose, head of BNP Paribas' European structured credit syndicate.
LCH.Clearnet launches OTC clearing for freight derivatives
LCH.Clearnet has launched an OTC clearing service for the forward freight agreements (FFAs).