Risk magazine
StanChart appoints new global head of rates and forex
Mike Bass, Standard Chartered’s head of interest rate derivatives, has been promoted to global head of rates and foreign exchange.
Swapstream market-makers raise quote size to €800m
The four banks making markets on electronic interest rate swaps trading platform Swapstream have raised their quote sizes from around €100 million to €200 million apiece.
AIB repays €26 million for overcharging
Allied Irish Banks (AIB) is repaying €26 million ($32 million) it overcharged clients on 3 million foreign exchange deals, after a regulator slammed the bank in a report last week, reports RiskNews’ sister publication, FX Week .
Dow Jones iTraxx CDS indexes launched for Asia, Australia and Japan
A new series of Asian credit default swaps (CDS) indexes have been launched today in Asia, Australia and Japan, combining the dealers behind the Dow Jones Trac-x, iBoxx and CJ 50 indexes under a single index umbrella.
RiskMetrics’ re-capitalisation tops venture capital deal table
A cash injection into RiskMetrics Group of $122 million by private equity investors last month was the largest venture capital deal of the second quarter.
China's Bank of Communications gets approval for derivatives business
The Bank of Communications said it has received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to start financial derivatives business.
Gupta to co-head credit trading at RBS
Sanjeev Gupta, formerly a managing director for credit derivatives at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), has come out of retirement to help spearhead the build-up of Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) integrated credit business in the US.
ABN Amro launches MiniSwaps contracts
ABN Amro has launched miniature versions of interest rate swaps contracts targeted at companies, fund managers and institutions that are prevented from trading derivatives for regulatory or other reasons.
Schachter quits Sac for BAM
Barry Schachter, a prominent name in the financial engineering industry, has left his role as head of risk management at $4 billion hedge fund Sac Capital Advisors to join rival Balyasny Asset Management (BAM).
HKMA to rule out AMA approach
Hong Kong’s banking regulator, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), will not allow the territory’s banks to use the advanced measurement approaches (AMA) for measuring operational risk when Basel II is implemented from the end of 2006.
SG appoints head of European cash CDOs
French investment bank SG, which is part of Société Générale, has appointed Teimuraz Barbakadze from Merrill Lynch as its head of European cash collateralised debt obligations (CDOs).
Tiffe ponders weather derivatives contracts
The Tokyo International Financial Futures Exchange (Tiffe) plans to list Japanese weather contracts, and is in talks with several parties over the contract details and marketing processes, a Tiffe official said.
US Treasury and IRS ponder CDSs
The US Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have responded to calls from taxpayers and industry groups concerned about the tax treatment of credit default swaps (CDSs) by issuing a notice requesting information from interested parties.
SG to launch Footsie reverse tracker warrant
SG, the investment banking arm of Société Générale, will tomorrow launch warrants on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) that track the share prices of the UK’s top 100 companies but in reverse.
CME to launch Japanese weather derivatives contracts
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) will launch Tokyo and Osaka weather derivatives contracts on July 26, the first of such contracts to serve an Asian market.
US forex committee issues broker points rules
The Foreign Exchange Committee, a US industry association affiliated to the Federal Reserve, last week issued new guidelines on broker ‘points’ – the issue at the heart of last year’s massive Wall Street forex fraud, reports RiskNews’ sister publication…
The flight from NAB continues
The flood of departures from National Australia Bank (NAB) continued last week as three senior institutional dealers left the bank in London and New York, reports RiskNews’ sister publication FX Week .
Moody’s warns investors on digital CDS ‘moral hazard’
Moody’s Investors Service today warned investors to be wary of potential ‘moral hazard’ associated with the proliferation of digital credit default swaps (CDS).
Freddie Mac names new fixed-income investment head
Freddie Mac has hired Patricia Cook to head its fixed-income investments. Cook, who will report to Richard Syron, Freddie Mac’s chairman and chief executive, joins from JP Morgan Fleming Asset Management, where she was chief investment officer for global…
SEC’s hedge fund registration proposal draws fire at Senate
Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has said he remains concerned about proposals by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to regulate hedge funds.
BNP Paribas makes structured rates hire
BNP Paribas has hired Kara Lemont Sportelli for its fixed-income derivatives structuring group. Lemont Sportelli will focus on engineering exotic interest rate and hybrid derivatives products for investors and liability managers. She is based in London…
Industrials lack price risk skills, says risk adviser
Outsourcing of price risk management will be a major growth area over the next few years, as industrial companies lack the skills required to manage their commodity risk, said Chris Bowden, chief executive of price risk services firm Utilyx.
CME appoints lead market-maker for fertiliser futures
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has named Agriliance as the lead market-maker for the exchange’s new fertiliser contracts traded on Globex, the exchange’s electronic trading platform.
Hedge funds post positive results
The Hennessee Group, a New York-based investment adviser that consults hedge fund investors and monitors hedge fund managers, reported a return of 0.49% for hedge funds in June, bringing the 2004 year-to-date (YTD) return to 2.28% for the Hennessee Hedge…