Risk magazine
HSBC plans $45 billion SIV restructuring
HSBC is to bail out two of its structured investment vehicles (SIVs), Cullinan and Asscher, blaming "the inability of most SIVs to fully roll over their senior funding in the form of commercial paper or medium-term notes" and "a continued decline in the…
PensionsFirst aims to trade pension fund longevity risk
A new London-based firm, PensionsFirst, has announced it is trying to create bonds and derivatives to address the longevity and market volatility risks of UK defined benefit pension schemes.
LiquidityHub adds dollar interest rate swaps
London-based electronic trading consortium LiquidityHub today added dollar interest rate swaps to its fixed-income liquidity-aggregation system.
Covered bond market reopens cautiously
Market making in the European interbank covered bond market reopened this afternoon, after being closed since last week, but with new conditions imposed by its governing body, the European Covered Bond Council (ECBC).
UBS's Tyger CPDO notes hit cash-out point
UBS's Tyger has become the first constant-proportion debt obligation (CPDO) to hit its cash-out trigger, resulting in 90% losses for investors in one tranche of the CPDO's debt.
Trichet predicts tighter regulations on banks
The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, has blamed the summer's crisis on opaque financing models and mistakes by rating agencies, and has called for an overhaul of financial regulation.
UBS names new heads of commodities
UBS has named two replacements for its previous head of commodities, Peter Ghavami, who left the bank in October.
BIS announces 135% notional OTC derivatives growth since 2004
According to the Bank for International Settlements' (BIS) latest reports, notional amounts outstanding for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives increased by 135% to $516 trillion from June 2004 to June 2007.
Tullett Prebon names new head of gas broking
Tullett Prebon has named Dan Simpson as a director of its energy division.
Interbank covered bond market shuts down
Market making in the interbank market in European covered bonds has been shut down for the rest of the week, to prevent spreads widening and volatility growing.
French banks act to save bond insurer CIFG
Two French banks, Caisse d'Epargne and Banque Populaire, will inject $1.5 billion into the New York-based financial guaranty company CIFG to prevent it losing its AAA credit rating.
New commodity and structured credit heads at Calyon
Calyon has named Martin Fraenkel as its new global head of commodities and Benjamin Jacquard as global head of structured products, both based in London.
Deutsche launches Asian currency-correlation indexes
Deutsche Bank has launched a set of indexes designed to capture returns generated by the apparent growing co-ordination of currency policy among Asian central banks. They are the first such indexes in the market.
Citigroup names new chief risk officer
Citigroup has appointed Jorge Bermudez as chief risk officer, and is tightening up risk management after suffering major losses from the subprime crisis.
Kershaw joins ICG
Dagmar Kent Kershaw will join Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) as head of its London-based CDO and institutional mandate team.
Credit cards could be source of next debt shock
Economists believe the next big shock to the financial system might not come from the property market but from consumer credit debt.
Swiss Re admits $1.07 billion loss on two portfolio CDSs
Zurich-based reinsurer Swiss Re has admitted a loss of SFr1.2 billion ($1.07 billion) caused by a fall in the market value of two credit default swaps (CDSs) referenced to a trading portfolio containing US subprime mortgages.
Lower losses than feared at Barclays
Barclays reported a total of £1.5 billion in write-downs associated with US subprime mortgages between June and October this year, reassuring investors who had feared far higher losses.
Bank of America's $19bn China windfall dwarfs $3bn writedown
The $3 billion writedown disclosed by Bank of America early this week has been overshadowed by the announcement that an investment in China stands to earn the firm $19 billion.
Merrill brings Thain to helm
Merrill Lynch has appointed John Thain as chief executive officer to replace Stan O'Neal, who retired on October 30 after the bank announced a larger than expected $7.9 billion of writedowns due to subprime exposure.
Dagmar Kent Kershaw leaves Prudential M&G
Dagmar Kent Kershaw has resigned from Prudential M&G, where she was the London-based head of structured credit products since 2000.
Markit buys IIC and CDS IndexCo
London-based market data provider Markit is to expand by taking over the dealer-owned International Index Company (IIC), which produces the iTraxx credit indexes and the iBoxx bond indexes, and the dealer consortium CDS IndexCo, which produces the CDX…
HSBC takes $4.4 billion in write-downs on weak US credit
HSBC has reported a total of $4.4 billion in write-downs on its US consumer lending, mortgage and investment banking businesses.
JP Morgan unveils new multi-commodity index
JP Morgan has launched a commodity curve index that references 33 commodities across various maturities.