News
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.
Creditex adds LoanX data to boost relative-value capability
Creditex, the New York-based electronic trading platform for the credit derivatives market, is offering syndicated loan pricing data to clients of its PriceTracker credit derivatives data service.
Eurex to go head-to-head with CBOT
European derivatives exchange Eurex plans to launch a US exchange that will compete directly with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).
Japan credit default swaps open year quietly
Japan’s credit default swap market opened the year quietly this week, with some names tightening, partly on the back of tighter US and European markets, while others widened on negative equity news.
Deutsche Telekom credit default widens on downgrade
The cost of protection for Deutsche Telekom has widened 20 basis points following today’s downgrade. Moody’s downgraded the long-term debt ratings of Deutsche Telekom to Baa3 from Baa1, and its short-term debt ratings to Prime-3 from Prime-2 with a…
CFTC announces authorisation of NFA responsibilities
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Division of Clearing and Intermediary Oversight yesterday authorised the National Futures Association (NFA) to conduct reviews of annual financial reports filed with the Commission by commodity pool…
CBOT to use Liffe Connect
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) has entered a licensing agreement to use Liffe Connect, the derivatives trading system used by pan-European exchange Euronext.Liffe, replacing the existing a/c/e platform currently being licensed from Eurex. The move…
BarCap to make 200 redundancies
Barclays Capital is making approximately 200 employees redundant at its London headquarters, according to Risk News sources.
India's exchanges double number of listed derivatives
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved the introduction of futures and options on 31 new stocks, doubling the existing number of listed derivatives in the country.
SunGard integrates cash and derivatives trading systems under Front Arena
Pennsylvania-based risk technology firm SunGard Trading Systems is integrating its major cash and derivatives trading systems to offer a cross-asset front- to back-office straight-through processing solution under the Front Arena brand.
Neubauer calls for the return of the 30-year Treasury
Nickolas Neubauer, chairman of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) futures market, has called on the US Treasury to return to issuing 30-year bonds. The issuing of more long-term debt is likely to boost trading in the CBOT’s 30-year US Treasury bond future.
Cinergy adopts Triple Point gas trading software
US energy company Cinergy has licensed Gas XL trading and risk management software developed by Connecticut-based Triple Point Technology for its gas trading operations in Houston.
Kat to set up Alternative Investment Research Centre in London
Harry Kat, a former derivatives banker and quantitative finance academic, has been made professor of risk management at the Sir John Cass School of Business at City University in London. Kat, an author of numerous quantitative finance papers and former…
Sac plans major increase in quantitative strategies
New York-based hedge fund Sac Capital Advisors is planning a major increase in its use of quantitative fund strategies, with their share of Sac’s total assets under management set to grow from a current 5% to as much as 20%.
DrKW adds North Asia structured products marketer
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has hired Yingxin Gong as structured product marketer in its capital markets sales and marketing team in Singapore.
Crosbie quits Moody’s KMV
Peter Crosbie, head of California-based credit risk management company KMV before it was taken over by rating agency Moody’s for $210 million in April last year, has left the combined business, Moody’s KMV. His replacement, Douglas Woodham – a long…
CDO activity sparks tightening in default swap prices
Trading in the European credit default swap market this week was brisk, with traders stating they had seen good liquidity in the market and narrowing spreads following the holiday break.
Pan-European structured financing trend expected in 2003
A pan-European, multi-jurisdictional approach to securitisations is set to become a key growth area in 2003, according to Fernando Bautista, a partner with international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Bautista believes the traditional approach…