News
Fitch gets OpVar loss database with NetRisk purchase
NEW YORK - Fitch Risk Management, part of rating agency Fitch, said in mid-July it was acquiring NetRisk and its subsidiary OpVantage, both Connecticut-based risk management companies.
Borealis signs up to Tempest XL risk management system
Borealis Group, the Danish chemical producer, is to use the Tempest XL trading and risk management system developed by technology and systems provider Triple Point Technology.
Skandia Liv likely to up hedge fund investments by year-end
Skandia Liv, the life assurance arm of Sweden’s Skandia with $27 billion in funds under management at the end of last year, is set to increase its investments in hedge funds by the end of the year, according to Malin Björkmo, Skandia Liv chief investment…
EU default rates hit record high in Q2, says S&P
Rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) said speculative-grade default rates in the European Union (EU) soared to a record high in the second quarter. The EU recorded a default rate of 5.11% in the second quarter, surpassing both the global and US…
Vijayan quits Andersen to join Principia Partners
Anil Vijayan, former head of the straight-through processing practice in the consulting division of auditor Andersen, has moved to software vendor Principia Partners to shape the New Jersey-based company’s FAS 133 and IAS 39 derivatives accounting…
SunGard snaps up UK’s Monis
US trading and risk technology supplier SunGard has acquired Monis, the derivatives software company, in a move designed to combine the former’s straight-through processing (STP) expertise with the latter’s pricing systems. The move is part of an ongoing…
CME offers past derivatives data
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is offering a new service called CME E-History, a fee-based service that will automate the provision of historical price data for CME futures and options for analysing price trends.
Amex and Iverson to monitor ETFs
Iverson Financial has developed a new service, Amex ETF Monitor (AEM), for the American Stock Exchange as part of a two-month-old joint partnership agreement, RIskNews ' sister publication Inside Market Data has learned. Amex ETF Monitor is a published…
Economist questions banks’ approach to VAR analysis
Bank risk managers must use more intra-day price data – also referred to as high-frequency data – to improve their value-at-risk analyses, according to Richard Olsen, an economist and founder of Zurich-based hedge fund and risk services company Olsen.
Currenex and RCP launch buy-side interface
Global online currency exchange Currenex and UK-based straight-through processing (STP) specialist RCP Consultants have developed an interface that offers immediate connectivity between Currenex’s FX trading system and many treasury and portfolio…
New director of group risk management at Invensys
Invensys, the production technology and energy management company, has hired Nick Smith as director of group risk management in London.
Japan Credit Market Update: Fujitsu and bank spreads hit in tighter general market
The cost of credit protection was higher on Japanese banks and some electronics names this week, amid a more stabilised market.
SG appoints director of structured products in Tokyo
SG, a division of French banking group Société Générale, has boosted its Tokyo-based structured products team with the appointment of Soon-Il Lee as a director of the group.
HypoVereinsbank moves for Japanese credit derivatives licence
HypoVereinsbank is preparing to apply for a licence that would allow it to trade credit derivatives in Tokyo. The move comes as the German bank has significantly beefed up its credit derivatives and securitisation teams in Asia.
Credit Markets Update: Iberian credits tighten following IMF's Brazil bail-out
The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) $30 billion rescue package for Brazil, announced yesterday, generated a positive response from financial markets participants and caused the credit default protection on Iberian names to narrow.
Pardue resigns from Morgan to set up alternative investment house
Charles Pardue has resigned as co-head of marketing for structured finance at JP Morgan in Europe to establish Prytania Alternative Investment Management. He plans to launch Prytania in early 2003.
Lehman finds link between high volatilities and SEC investor confidence measure
The Lehman Brothers equity derivatives and quantitative research group has found the current trend of high implied and realised volatilities for US stocks partly attributable to a US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) order aimed at bolstering…
Kiodex focuses on accounting transparency for corporations
Kiodex, the New York-based provider of Web-based energy risk management services, has launched an accounting tools module on its Risk Workbench platform, an online business process outsourcing resource.
UBS will not replace timezone risk manager Mullet
UBS Warburg, the investment banking arm of Swiss bank UBS, said it will not replace Mark Mullet, a timezone risk manager for North America FX options.
Bank of Ireland opts for Integral STP over client e-trading
Bank of Ireland has taken Integral’s AutoDealer product to aid straight-through processing, the Californian software firm said earlier this week. But, said an official at Bank of Ireland in Dublin, the bank has no immediate plans to use the system to…
Danish regulator scotches rumours of favourable hedge fund ruling
Denmark's chief regulator, the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), is unlikely to relax rules that block locally domiciled investment funds from using leverage, FSA financial inspector Jens Vestergaard told RiskNews .
Citi moves to prevent future Enron-style 'loan' fiascos
Citigroup has pledged not to conduct structured finance deals for companies that hide debt from investors in a move designed to improve its image post-Enron.
Credit Markets Update: Spreads in Europe stay wide
Credit default swap spreads on European corporates continued to widen across the board this week, albeit at relatively more moderate levels than witnessed in the past few weeks. Traders said poor corporate earnings reports, negative rating actions and…
Bank race for CLS clients
The world’s top FX banks are racing against time – and each other – to sign up a potential 2,000 third-party banks and institutions as clients for a new forex settlement system, Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS).