Bank of America
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.
Merrill strips out European structured credit head
Glenn Barnes, London-based head of European structured credit, has left Merrill Lynch. His departure is due to a decision to strip out a layer of management, a Merrill Lynch spokesman claimed.
Merrill Lynch creates non-Japan Asia derivatives role
Merrill Lynch is creating a new position for its non-Japan Asia local currency foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives business to cater for client demand, a senior official said.
Partners aims to offer €500m exchangeable hedge fund bond
Partners Group, a $4 billion alternative asset manager headquartered in Switzerland, plans to launch a €500 million innovative exchangeable bond linked to a pool of hedge funds within the next few weeks.
Merrill Lynch continues with forex hires
Merrill Lynch has continued its forex hiring spree with the hire of Rabobank’s former global forex head, Michele di Stefano.
BofA hires four to European fixed-income division
Banc of America Securities has hired Mitchell Lench, Andrew Panteli, John Oei and Jules Putterman to its European fixed-income division.
Merrill’s debt protection costs fall following Spitzer deal
The cost of protection on Merrill Lynch senior five-year debt narrowed 25 basis points to 65bp/75bp today following the firm's settlement with New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer.
BofA moves to replace lost FX staff
Bank of America (BofA) hired four senior foreign exchange traders and three institutional forex sales staff in April, in an ongoing expansion of its foreign exchange division, following a number of forex staff leaving the US bank last year.
BofA highlights danger of over-leveraged synthetics
The over-leveraging of investment grade corporate credit-backed synthetic collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) accentuated the impact of credit downgrades last year, according to new research by Bank of America.
Merrill makes more key FX hires
Merrill Lynch has made another number of key hires to its FX team following the appointment of Michael deSa as global head of FX late last year. The US investment bank has lured Adam Kreysar, the highly rated global head of FX options at UBS, as its new…
Credit Markets Update: Merrill spreads hit as disclosure fears grow
The cost of five-year protection on Merrill Lynch's senior debt rose a sharp 16 basis points today, due to ongoing investigations into conflicts of interest between its equity research and corporate finance divisions.
BofA fills sales gaps with derivatives experts
Banc of America Securities, the investment banking arm of Bank of America (BofA), has hired a number of derivatives experts in London to fill gaps in its sales team. The hires are part of a bid to expand the bank’s European fixed income and derivatives…