Bank of America
BoA’s Mooney joins Trafigura
David Mooney has left Bank of America in New York and joined Trafigura, a privately owned Swiss-based commodity trading company with offices in 30 countries. Mooney, former head of commodity derivatives at BoA, joined Trafigura’s London office as head of…
Deutsche hires Letica to head agency CMO trading
Deutsche Bank has hired Nicholas Letica as head of agency collateralised mortgage obligation (CMO) trading.
Merrill to settle its forex trades via Citi
Citigroup has won a coveted deal to settle Merrill Lynch’s forex trades on its behalf on the new Continuous Linked Settlement (CLS) service for FX.
Goldman down, Bear Stearns up in Q1 forex
Goldman Sachs last week reported reduced foreign exchange revenues within its fixed-income, currency and commodities (FICC) division for Q1, although other US investment banks fared better.
Merrill boosts structured products team in Asia
Merrill Lynch has bolstered its Asia-Pacific debt markets team with the addition of six new hires around the region. The newcomers will focus on structured products for both asset and liability customers.
SEC charges Merill Lynch in Enron case
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday charged Merrill Lynch and four of its former senior executives with aiding and abetting Enron’s alleged securities fraud – the first time a regulator has charged a bank with aiding the Houston…
In need of reassurance
The knock-on effects of the crisis in equities has hit the insurance sector particularly hard – so much so that UK regulatory body the FSA has been forced to step in and allow certain insurers to breach mimimum solvency ratios.
Isda muddies debt waters
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) has finally released its 2003 credit derivatives definitions, which take effect on March 17.
Knight Trading creates institutional options and ETF team
US equity and derivatives market-maker Knight Trading has established an institutional options and exchange-traded funds (ETF) sales and trading team with six new appointees, mostly from Merrill Lynch.
Korea’s Koram Bank joins SuperDerivatives
Korea’s Koram Bank, a joint venture established by a consortium of local conglomerates, has joined SuperDerivatives, the internet-enabled currency options pricing system.
Merrill reaches agreement with SEC over Enron
Merrill Lynch has reached an agreement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to pay an $80 million fine as a result of its dealings with Enron.
Bank of America platform integrates derivatives financing capabilities
Bank of America has launched a new prime brokerage platform, integrating equity swap capabilities with traditional prime brokerage services.
Dollar downturn sparks rise in hedging activity
The fall of the US dollar in the past few months has sparked an increase in hedging activity among US companies, despite their reluctance to use hedges just six months ago.
BofA pushes out Goldie-Morrison
Duncan Goldie-Morrison, head of the global markets group at Banc of America Securities in New York, has become the latest high-profile casualty in the long list of Wall Street redundancies. His position has been abolished as part of another large…
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…
BoA hires global markets head in Hong Kong
Bank of America (BoA) has hired Abidin Siregar in a newly created role as head of global markets, Hong Kong. He will assume responsibility for sales, trading and research as well as building the bank’s debt capital raising business across the region.
Nationalisation required for Japanese bank recovery, says Fitch
A partial nationalisation of Japan's ailing banks may be the only way to resolve the country's economic woes, with recent efforts by individual institutions to restructure their balance sheets unlikely to lead to an autonomous recovery in the banking…
Merrill touts restructuring strategy
US investment bank Merrill Lynch is advising investors to 'buy restructuring' as part of their credit portfolio strategy, according to a new report, 'Credit Derivatives Protection Strategies'.
Credit default swaps remain tight despite falling equities
Credit default swap spreads in Europe have remained relatively tight this week despite falling equities. The trend is being supported by the current dislocation between credit and equity, and also continued large issuance of synthetic CDOs, according to…
Bank of America to set up global forex structuring team
Bank of America plans to set up a global foreign exchange structuring team with the appointment of Eric Ohayon from Lehman Brothers.
Default swap curves flatten for France Telecom and Fiat
Default swap curves for volatile European corporate issuers, including France Telecom and Fiat, have flattened out, according to Chris Francis, a credit derivatives analyst at Merrill Lynch in London.
BofA becomes first Moody’s KMV CreditMark client
Bank of America (BofA) has signed up to a new product offered by credit risk management company Moody’s KMV, called CreditMark, which allows financial institutions to mark-to-market their corporate loans.
Merrill Lynch reshuffles Asia-Pacific equity derivatives team
In an effort to boost its market share in global structured equity derivatives, US investment bank Merrill Lynch has set up an equity structured solutions group. Brent Clapacs, Hong Kong-based head of equity trading for the Asia-Pacific region, will…
European credit default swaps tightening lags cash market
Spread tightening continued across the European credit derivatives market this week, driven by increasingly positive sentiment towards credit risk. But traders noted that credit default swap spread tightening lagged the cash market.