News
FSA calls for firms to keep business continuity a priority
The UK’s chief financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has called on the 12,000 firms it regulates to keep business continuity as a priority.
Isda publishes new credit derivatives definitions
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has produced a new set of credit derivatives definitions. Robert Pickel, chief executive of the trade body, said the updated definitions “reflect changes in industry dynamics over the past three years”.
European corporate credit spreads contract; retail sector sees negative basis
Credit default swap levels for the European corporate sector are tightening again, according to London-based traders. In relatively light flows, the cost of protection for industrials, retailers and utilities narrowed between 3 basis points to 10bp in…
Credit derivatives notional tops $2.3 trillion
The notional value of credit derivatives contracts now tops $2.3 trillion, according to Risk ’s third annual survey of credit derivatives dealers.
FSA clarifies research standards issues
The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has issued new and wide-ranging guidelines for investment banks related to their publication of research in new issues of securities.
Bank of Finland to upgrade risk systems with Trema
The Bank of Finland will replace its mainframe and proprietary foreign exchange reserves, monetary policy and customer payments systems with an off-the-shelf service provided by Stockholm-based Trema.
ISE introduces ISEspreads function
The International Securities Exchange (ISE), the second biggest options exchange in the US, has implemented ISEspreads, a new trading system function that automatically executes complex options orders.
GFI launches mark-to-market service for forex options
Inter-dealer broker GFI is attempting to establish a benchmark daily 'revaluation fixing' service for currency options in response to new accounting standards designed to assign a fair value to derivatives positions.
Fix for fixed-income uptake remains slow
Buy-side firms are continuing their ‘wait-and-see’ approach when it comes to implementing the Fix protocol to support their fixed-income businesses, according to Fix Protocol Limited (FPL).
BoA hires mainland China head
Bank of America (BoA) has hired Helen Pun as managing director, head of mainland China for bank and non-bank financial institutions. Based in Hong Kong, she assumes responsibility for marketing structured and cross-border products across the mainland…
Maple Leaf debuts with Sophis and TradingScreen risk management product
Maple Leaf Capital, a hedge fund based in London, has signed up to use an integrated risk management system developed by Paris-based risk management systems provider Sophis and TradingScreen, a supplier of connectivity for asset managers, located in…
PwC: Poor governance will cost capital
HONG KONG - Sixty percent of respondents to a recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study indicated that trust in financial institutions had been eroded globally.
McDonough speaks on QIS3 results, and US regulatory changes
"At this early stage, the results suggest that the incentives built into the New Accord are functioning as we had hoped," said William McDonough, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision…
Goldman to introduce single data portal
Goldman Sachs plans to replace its Financial Workbench fixed-income research portal with a new system that will centralise data and research from across the bank for buy-side and corporate clients in the coming months.
GNI to replace Algo RiskWatch with SunGard Panorama
GNI Fund Management (GNI FM), a London-based fund of hedge funds with about $550 million of assets under management, started its implementation of SunGard Trading and Risk Systems’ Panorama platform early this month. The system is scheduled to go live at…
Eurex increases share of Dutch equity options market
Eurex increased its share of the Dutch equity options market tenfold last year, the Swiss-German derivatives exchange said in a statement today.
Trayport offers swaps as part of updated brokerage system
London-based trading software vendor Trayport has launched the latest version of Global Vision, which includes support for foreign exchange forwards, repo, interest rate swaps and credit derivatives.
Vwd Launches Energy Analysis Service
German news and data provider vwd has launched an analysis product for the electricity and natural gas markets. The service is aimed at energy traders, analysts, portfolio managers, distributors and brokers.
Heavyweights move to tackle rising unnamed counterparty risk
Top foreign exchange banks are joining forces with central banks and industry groups to eliminate unnamed counterparty risk.
New Star sets up convertible arbitrage hedge fund
London's New Star Asset Management has hired two ex-Soros Fund Management hedge fund managers to run its new convertible arbitrage fund, which is due to begin trading at the end of March.
Basel II likely to boost credit markets, says Fitch
The Basel II capital Accord is likely to boost credit market funding activities, particularly for lower investment-grade companies seeking financing, according to Fitch, the credit rating agency.
BIS to offer derivatives statistics for individual countries
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said today that it is expanding its statistics on banks' country risk exposures to include data on derivatives exposures to individual countries.
BIS to offer derivatives statistics for individual countries
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said today that it is expanding its statistics on banks' country risk exposures to include data on derivatives exposures to individual countries.
Japanese bank spreads hit on renewed equities portfolio concerns
Spreads on Japanese bank credit default swaps widened an average 10 basis points this week, sparked by renewed investor concerns about unrealised losses linked to their large equity portfolios.