News
Risk 2002 USA: Convertible arb funds could face liquidity risk concerns, says Soros Fund risk head
The rash of new convertible arbitrage funds in the market has created concerns about liquidity risk problems, according to Peruvemba Satish, director of risk management and reporting at Soros Fund Management in New York.
BMA and IIF issue new proposals to protect sovereign debt investors
The heads of six major financial bodies, including the Bond Market Association (BMA) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF), have issued a list of principles to enhance creditor protection in cases of sovereign debt restructuring.
Credit Markets Update: Williams hit due to energy investigation
Continued federal enquiries and a credit downgrade for US energy trader and gas pipeline operator Williams caused five-year debt protection spreads on the company to widen a further 30 basis points this week, after its spreads swelled 200bp last week and…
JP Morgan sees mixed results in Risk ’s 2002 end-user derivatives rankings
JP Morgan Chase, the world’s largest derivatives house, managed only a fourth-place position in the non-financial companies section of Risk ’s 2002 end-user derivatives rankings. But the US financial group dominated the asset management rankings, with a…
PRMIA issues draft bylaws
The Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA) today issued its draft bylaws outlining the internal structure and responsibilities of the group.
Risk 2002 USA: credit risk transfer under the spotlight
Robin Lenna - head of portfolio management at FleetBoston Financial - highlighted the important role of insurers in the credit risk transfer market at the Risk 2002 USA conference in Boston today, while Carl Groth - a director at Willis Structured…
IAIS credit risk transfer investigation sees worrying trends
The Basel-based International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), which represents insurance supervisory authorities of some 100 jurisdictions, said it is concerned that some insurance companies active in the $1 trillion credit derivatives…
Blue Bay signs with SunGard
Blue Bay Asset Management, the London-based alternative investment firm established on July 3 last year, has licensed SunGard Trading and Risk Systems’ Panorama application for risk management and Decalog for decision support and compliance of its hedge…
FX volatility fuels earnings hope
Banks are expecting to see increased forex trading revenues for the second quarter from increased volatility in the major currencies, officials told RiskNews ’ sister publication FX Week .
Correction: UBS says no figure available for derivatives staff cuts in London
UBS Warburg, the investment banking arm of Switzerland’s UBS, which is axing 10% of its investment banking staff in London, said it could provide no overall figure for its cuts in derivatives staff numbers today.
Dresdner recruits derivatives marketers from JP Morgan Chase in Tokyo
German investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has recruited two JP Morgan Chase officials to fill vacant positions in its fixed-income derivatives team in Tokyo.
Risk 2002 USA: World Bank’s Perlin questions validity of risk model assumptions
The World Bank’s chief financial officer, Gary Perlin, questioned whether some of the broad assumptions used in risk modelling were still valid in the current economic climate today during a keynote address at Risk magazine’s Risk 2002 USA conference in…
Isda seeks industry help to develop FpML for credit derivatives
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) is seeking industry help to set up a working group to develop financial products mark-up language (FpML) for credit derivatives. FpML, a computer protocol, was built to promote the electronic…
Bear Stearns poaches five from Commerz to boost Asian securitisation
US investment bank Bear Stearns has poached a five-strong asset-backed securitisation team from Commerz Securities in Tokyo. The raid on the investment banking arm of Germany's Commerzbank will take the number working in Bear Stearns’ Japanese…
Clemmons to lead WRMA through challenges ahead
Lynda Clemmons, president of Connecticut-based weather risk company Element Re, has been elected as the new president of the Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA).
WRMA launches electronic trading standard
The Weather Risk Management Association (WRMA), a global industry body promoting weather derivatives, launched its extensible mark-up language trading protocol, WXML, on Friday following a two-year development process.
Credit Lyonnais prepares Asian-flavoured arbitrage synthetic CDO
France’s Credit Lyonnais Securities is getting ready to launch a global arbitrage synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) within a month, according to the bank’s head of Japan investment banking and ex-Japan Asian debt capital markets, Jean-Marc…
Whiteside to head global FX at Lehman
Lehman Brothers has brought in its fixed-income liquid markets sales head, Grant Whiteside, to head global FX. Currently based in New York, Whiteside will move to London for the role later this year, a bank spokesman said.
Deutsche hires new head of cross-rates sales
Munir Dauhajre, previously head of US government bond and derivatives sales at Merrill Lynch, has joined Deutsche Bank as head of cross-rates sales for the Americas. Based in New York, Duahajre will report to Brian Reid, head of Deutsche's institutional…
Front in new sales drive
Stockholm-based trading and risk management technology provider Front Capital Systems, an operating unit of SunGard Trading Systems, has made two key sales appointments to support the company’s global expansion. Front has recruited Stephen Butcher to…
Japan Credit Market Update: Spreads tighten in technical correction
Spreads on Japanese credit default swaps were tighter this week, in what traders described as a technical correction after a raft of convertible bond issue hedges in the past couple of months had earlier forced spreads wider.
Credit Markets Update: Tyco curve inverts on CIT spin-off delay concerns
A potential delay to the planned spin-off of CIT, the financial services unit of Tyco, caused five-year debt protection spreads on Tyco and CIT to balloon 200 basis points this week, and Tyco’s credit derivatives swaps curve to invert.
TFS and Bank One launch energy clearing service
TFS Energy and Banc One Capital Markets have formed a strategic partnership to provide a single clearing process for both over-the-counter (OTC) and exchange-traded energy products.
Basel II op risk survey launched
Global banking regulators today launched their second survey seeking data on operational losses suffered by banks to help refine the op risk proposals of the Basel II capital Accord.