Risk magazine
RBS to subsume ABN Amro wholesale brand
Royal Bank of Scotland, which teamed up with Benelux bancassurer Fortis and Spain’s Santander to buy Dutch bank ABN Amro for €70 billion in October, will do away with the ABN Amro brand in the wholesale banking arena. The merged division will be run in…
Citi bails out struggling SIVs
Citigroup has bailed out seven of its own structured investment vehicles (SIVs), taking their $49 billion in non-cash assets onto its own balance sheet, as they continue to reduce in size.
Central banks offer $20bn auctions to revive liquidity
The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the central banks of the UK, Canada and Switzerland have agreed upon a series of auctions to provide billions for credit-starved financial institutions.
Northern Rock’s CEO departs
Adam Applegarth, Northern Rock’s chief executive, has left the bank. He will be replaced by Andy Kuipers, subject to the UK Financial Services Authority’s approval.
Citi names Vikram Pandit as CEO
Citi has appointed Vikram Pandit as a replacement for its previous chief executive officer, Charles Prince, who stepped down in November after the bank faced writedowns of billions of dollars on its mortgage-backed securities business.
Another CDO head leaves Calyon
Edouard Bremond, previously global head of cash collateralised debt obligation (CDO) structuring, has left Calyon.
BGC hires head of fixed-income e-commerce
Andrew Stone has been appointed head of fixed-income products for e-commerce at London-based interdealer broker BGC.
TSX to take over Montreal exchange
TSX Group, which owns the Toronto Stock Exchange, is to buy the Montreal Exchange, after overcoming resistance from its management.
UBS reports further $10 billion subprime writedowns
In its revised fourth-quarter outlook, UBS has changed its prediction for its results from profit to loss. This includes additional writedowns of $10 billion related to US subprime mortgage exposures.
SIV pain resurfaces through ratings
Moody’s Investors Service has taken negative action on 20 structured investment vehicles (SIVs). The action came as the first part of a sector review started at the beginning of last month by the rating agency.
Rabobank bails out Tango SIV
Rabobank has agreed to take the assets of Tango Finance, a structured investment vehicle (SIV) it sponsors, on to its balance sheet. The Dutch bank plans to do this in early 2008 to prevent a potential fire sale of the SIV’s high-quality assets.
BarCap launches global carbon index
Barclays Capital has unveiled an index intended to be a benchmark for the rapidly growing carbon-trading markets.
RBS and ABN Amro expect subprime-related writedowns
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has predicted it will suffer writedowns of £950 million from exposures to US subprime mortgage markets over the second half of this year.
Standard Chartered takes $46 million profit hit
Market turmoil has dented Standard Chartered’s profits by $46 million, after the bank exchanged $140 million of capital notes for a vertical slice of the assets of its Whistlejacket structured investment vehicle (SIV).
Grosvenor CEO to step down after 20-year tenure
Jeremy Newsum, group chief executive at Grosvenor, has announced his resignation as of June 30, 2008.
BClear extends into Russian and eastern European stocks
London-based derivatives exchange Liffe added various Russian and eastern European equities to its BClear platform on December 5. The platform provides exchange-like clearing to wholesale over-the-counter equity derivatives trades.
Citi hires head of emissions markets
Citi has appointed Garth Edward as its new head of emissions markets, based in London. He will cover the bank’s global efforts in carbon trading and Kyoto emissions credits.
FSA to lenders: prepare for the worst
The UK Financial Services Authority's director of retail markets, Clive Briault, warned mortgage lenders yesterday they should prepare for market conditions to worsen still further in the year ahead.
Markit to buy Swapswire
London-based data services provider Markit has agreed to acquire the London electronic trade confirmation firm Swapswire.
New insurance and pensions head at Credit Suisse
David Prieul has joined Credit Suisse in London as head of the European insurance and pensions solutions group.
Fannie Mae most active CDS in US for November
The banking and financial services sectors dominated trading volumes of credit default swaps (CDS) in the US over November, according to New York-based interdealer broker GFI.
Zubrow named as JP Morgan risk chief
JP Morgan Chase has appointed Barry Zubrow as chief risk officer, replacing Don Wilson, who retired earlier this year.
Calyon rebuilds Asian equity derivatives team
French bank Calyon has made several sales appointments to its Asian equity and fund derivatives team since June, following the departure of a number of senior executives in the first half of the year.
Lehman: potential for EM contagion overlooked
Credit market turmoil caused by bad US subprime mortgages could be transmitted to emerging market economies through domestic bank lending – a “vehicle for contagion that has been overlooked,” according to recent research by Lehman Brothers.