Commerzbank
AIG hires ex-Commerzbank options dealers in London
Former Commerzbank foreign exchange options dealers Behnouche Mostachfi and Damian Zihlman have joined AIG Trading in London. Both report to Greenwich-based global head of foreign exchange options and head of forex Donald Lee.
Equity rally prompts tightening of financial spreads
The upswing in equity prices in the second half of the week has prompted a contraction in credit default swap spreads for European banks and insurance companies. But German names, including HVB, were still trading at wider levels for subordinate…
Lehman’s Coym replaces Fischer as Eurex chairman
The exchange council of Eurex Deutschland has elected Peter Coym as its new chairman to replace Leonhard Fischer, who resigned the post when he left Dresdner Bank on October 31 last year.
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.
Commerzbank, IBM Mull Outsourcing Deal
FRANKFURT—In what looks like a pioneering deal, Commerzbank is working out the details of an IT outsourcing arrangement with IBM that would see the vendor take on responsibility not just for low-level infrastructure, but complete management of major…
Credit spreads tighten due to CDO upsurge
Credit default swap spreads tightened this week as the continued upswing in collateralised debt obligation (CDO) issuance pulled in offers, and limited debt-issuance reduced demand for credit protection.
Self-assessments for scorecards
In this second and final paper on the scorecard approach to operational risk, Dresdner Bank's Ulrich Anders and Michael Sanstedt discuss the logistics of preparing and implementing the self-assessment questionnaire, before discussing the advantages and…
Pension deficit concern sparks demand for default protection
Traders saw a marked increase in volumes for credit protection, following a credit watch alert by rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on 12 major European corporations earlier today. S&P today warned that the companies, including Sainsbury’s, Rolls…
Profile: Dresdner makes loss prevention a new priority
Operational risk management is a management programme, not just a modelling exercise, according to Jonathan Howitt, director of operational risk at investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London.
Dealers rebut UK covered warrants market flop claims
Leading warrants dealers in the UK have rebutted claims that the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) new covered warrants market is a flop.
Ahead of the green game
Germany
Credit spreads widen as equity continues falling
Falling equities and the increased likelihood of conflict in Iraq continued to drive spreads wider in the credit derivatives market this week.
HVB protection surges on downgrade
The cost of senior credit protection for the five-year debt of Germany's HypoVereinsbank (HVB) has surged nearly 30 basis points this week following a two-notch downgrade of its unsecured deposit and debt rating by Moody’s late on Wednesday.
An operational risk scorecard approach
Operational risk scorecards have been in the spotlight since the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s 2001 paper on op risk treatment under Basel II. In the first of two articles, Ulrich Anders and Michael Sandstedt of Dresdner Bank examine what,…
DrKW adds North Asia structured products marketer
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has hired Yingxin Gong as structured product marketer in its capital markets sales and marketing team in Singapore.
Barclays Capital hires director of forex sales in Asia
Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, has hired Henry Yeong as director of foreign exchange sales, based in Singapore.
Credit and credibility
Credit risk modellers have made giant strides, but they still have to convince regulators that they can make the world a safer place.
Commerzbank cuts in London
Commerzbank has shed four foreign exchange jobs in London, a source at the bank told RiskNews ' sister publication FX Week . Among the departures was Behnouche Mostachfi, a senior FX options trader, the source confirmed. Another un-named options dealer,…
Spreads widen on Munich Re, Aegon, BA Systems and Fiat
Credit default swap spreads widened this week on Munich Re, Aegon, BAE systems and Fiat. But traders said trading was thin and there was very limited movement in other credit spreads in the European market.
iBoxx licenses indexes for exchange-traded funds
Frankfurt-based indexing company iBoxx and Pennsylvania-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) company iShares have struck a deal to license iBoxx indexes as the basis for European fixed-income ETFs to be launched on Deutsche Börse. The new products are…
HVB downgrade forces spreads wider
The cost of five-year senior protection for HypoVereinsbank (HVB) widened by more than 10 basis points to 95/115bp yesterday after rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the German bank. The downgrade, along with another negative report on bank risk…
Negative rating actions prompt little movement in credit spreads
The European credit derivatives market remained listless this week, with limited movement in protection cost spreads following a string of negative credit news, traders said. The cost of credit protection for German banks, UK bank Barclays and Spain’s…
Credit protection for German financial institutions remains stable
The cost of credit protection for German financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank and insurer Allianz, remained relatively stable today, despite negative rating outlook changes from Moody’s.
Algorithmics strengthens European connection
TORONTO - Canadian risk management software company Algorithmics said in October that Denmark-based Danske Bank had licensed its Algo Collateral software system to manage their over-the-counter derivatives and repo-margining activities. An Algorithmics…