GFI expands credit derivatives brokerage team in Asia

New York-based brokerage GFI Group is opening a Hong Kong desk to concentrate on non-Japanese Asian credit default swaps. The desk will serve Asian-based clients, adding to GFI’s existing credit derivative desks in Sydney, London and New York.

The brokerage team will consist of internal transfers Richard Giles, Peter Allen and Andrew Carter. Giles moves from the London office where he worked on the currency and energy derivatives desks. Allen transfers from the New York office where he concentrated on corporate bonds. Carter transfers from Sydney where he traded credit derivatives.

GFI said it is opening the desk in direct response to the rapid expansion of the credit derivatives market, which is expected to quadruple by 2004 as reported by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) in September 2002. The BBA valued the credit derivatives market at $1.5 trillion.