Bank of America
Deutsche Bank credit protection trades wider following Q3 losses
The cost of senior debt protection for Deutsche Bank has crept 5 basis points wider to 58bp-mid after the bank posted a third-quarter net loss of €299 million. In otherwise thin markets, credit derivatives traders in London said active buyers of…
HypoVereinsbank protection costs widen after poor Q3 results
Poor third-quarter results released by HypoVereinsbank on Wednesday prompted the cost of credit protection for the German banking group’s senior, five-year debt to widen 30 basis points to 140/165bp by trading mid-session today. HypoVereinsbank’s net…
Macquarie buys Merrill's Australian instalment warrants business
Australia's Macquarie Bank has purchased the instalment warrants business of Merrill Lynch following the restructuring of the US bank's Australian operations.
Equities rally brings in cost of US and European debt protection
A strong rebound in world equity markets during the early part of this week has caused the cost of credit protection on US and European institutions to markedly narrow. The contraction in credit spreads this week nearly matched the widening seen last…
Merrill ousts European debt derivatives head Chattwell
Merrill Lynch has ousted its European head of fixed income and foreign exchange derivatives, Kevin Chattwell, as part of the US investment bank’s efforts to flatten its senior management structure.
BofA develops new credit risk model
Bank of America is developing a sophisticated model that uses derivatives data to help asset managers get a better handle on credit risk within their portfolios.
Singapore FX build-up for BoA
Bank of America (BofA) made four new hires in FX trading in Singapore in September. The hires are part of the bank’s ongoing move to strengthen foreign exchange, said Larry Baum, New York-based global head of spot, forward and proprietary trading.
ABN Amro hires German global financial markets head
Dutch bank ABN Amro has hired Hermann Watzinger to head its global financial markets group in Germany, covering all of the bank’s activities in fixed income, including structured finance, treasury, asset securitisation and fixed-income derivatives…
Basis trade opportunities created by volatile credit market
The upswing in credit market volatility in the past three months has led to an increased dislocation between cash bonds and credit default swaps, with investors profiting from basis trading opportunities.
Weak equity markets continue to fuel widening in European credit spreads
Equity weakness continued to dominate the direction of European credit default swaps, pushing the cost of protection wider for volatile insurers and telecoms.
Poor vendor data delays BofNY securities ‘master’ project
The Bank of New York said its efforts to build a ‘master’ securities database was delayed due to poor data from between 13 to 15 data providers.
Swaps spreads for US banks and brokers widen
The cost of protection for US banks and brokers widened following a 17% plunge in third-quarter profits at Morgan Stanley and bleak forecasts by JP Morgan Chase on Tuesday that resulted in credit downgrades by rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Fitch…
Business managers play key role in shrinking Merrill IT budget
Merrill Lynch has stemmed IT cost overruns by shifting the responsibility for technology project costs to business managers and away from IT managers.
UBS Warburg poaches Merrill Lynch veteran in Asia
UBS Warburg has snared Christopher Lee, a seven-year veteran of Merrill Lynch, to head it intermediary desk for equity risk management products.
Merrill Lynch targets Asian retail investors
Investment bank Merrill Lynch has finally joined the flock of institutions battling for Hong Kong’s retail investors, with the launch of its first publicly offered capital guaranteed fund, with more issues planned in the coming months.
Barclays appoints global head of foreign exchange options
Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, has hired Despina Pantopoulou as a managing director and global head of forex options with immediate effect.
Bank of America expands global proprietary trading
Bank of America has named Lawrence Barwick as global head of proprietary FX trading, based in London. The appointment is part of a build-up of global prop trading - the latest stage in the bank’s wholesale expansion of foreign exchange, Larry Baum,…
BoA hires Citi veteran to head Asian derivatives sales
Bank of America (BoA) has hired Freda Sze as regional head of global derivatives sales in its global markets group. Based in Hong Kong, Sze will report to Goetz Eggelhoefer, Asian head of global markets.
BoA continues hiring bonanza
Bank of America (BoA) has hired 14 new staff for its global forex business in London, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo, snaring a host of top names over a two- to three-month period.
DrKW hires senior credit structurer in Japan
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW), the investment banking arm of Germany's Dresdner Bank, has hired Carlos Cala as director and senior structurer within its global credit derivatives team. Based in Tokyo, he will report to Rick Weinstein, London…
Merrill Lynch snares Goldman derivatives ace Covin
Merrill Lynch has poached David Covin from Goldman Sachs to develop interest rates products in its strategic solutions group (SSG) - a unit split into interest rates and credit divisions that specialises in structuring derivatives products for investment…
Banks see sharp slowdown in equity derivatives business
Falling equity derivatives revenues have hit bank earnings in the second quarter this year, as a decline in merger and acquisitions (M&A) activity saw less corporate demand for equity derivatives.
BBSP launches FX implied volatility forecasting
French technical analyst forecasting company BBSP has launched a service that charts and forecasts implied volatilities for currencies, officials at the firm said.
Bank of America traders launch forex hedge fund
Three senior forex traders from Bank of America (BoA) in New York last week launched Scalene Partners, a new intra-day forex hedge fund.