Risk magazine
FX Concepts hires Citigroup strategist
New York-based currency overlay manager FX Concepts has hired Citigroup’s Tao Huang as vice-president of research to strengthen its quantitative research and product development.
Isda publishes weather derivatives confirmation document
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has published a trade confirmation document for over-the-counter weather index swap transactions.
‘Restructuring’ partly dumped as Basel shifts stance on risk mitigation
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the architect of new banking regulation, Basel II, which is due for implementation by the end of 2006, has made a number of concessions in its proposed treatment of risk mitigation techniques in the release of…
Lehman names Simon as global head of forex options marketing
Lehman Brothers has appointed Andrew Simon as global head of foreign exchange options marketing.
Ex-WestLB financial engineering head launches consultancy
Janet Tavakoli, former head of capital markets financial engineering at Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB) in London, has launched a derivatives consultancy - Tavakoli Structured Finance.
Citisoft launches new portfolio risk service
Consulting company Citisoft has launched a ‘risk and performance’ service for asset managers.
Bear Stearns nabs CSFB credit derivatives head
CSFB’s global head of credit derivatives for developed markets, Mark Davies, has left the bank, a CSFB spokesman confirmed. Davies will start as head of credit derivatives at Bear Stearns in May.
Deutsche Börse launches S&P 500 ETF
Deutsche Börse has started trading its first exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the Standard & Poor’s 500 US benchmark index. The so-called iShares S&P 500 ETF is managed by Barclays Global Investors (BGI).
ABN Amro selects SunGard’s Credient
ABN Amro has signed up to use SunGard Trading and Risk Systems’ credit portfolio analysis and counterparty exposure tracking system, Credient, for global credit risk management and control. The Dutch bank will use Credient for trading portfolio credit…
Deutsche Bank hires BoA veteran in Hong Kong
Deutsche Bank has hired Linda Fok as director and head of local corporate relationships in its global banking division in Hong Kong.
European companies see more potential in energy trading than US counterparts
European energy companies display a more upbeat sentiment towards energy trading than their US counterparts, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey published this week. The study was conducted throughout December 2002 by interviewing 107 senior…
AEP exits Nordic energy trading
American Electric Power (AEP) today completed its exit from the Nordic energy trading market, an AEP spokesman told RiskNews . The management team responsible for AEP's activities in the Nordic region will assume AEP's Nordic trading book, office leases…
Japanese credit spreads tighten to near-record levels
Japanese credit default swap spreads continued to tighten on technical factors, nearly reaching record levels, with trading volumes on the whole fairly subdued, according to traders.
JP Morgan Chase launches Credit Navigator for relative-value credit trading
JP Morgan Chase has launched its Credit Navigator product, an analytical tool designed to identify relative-value opportunities in the credit markets.
Standard Chartered boosts global ABS team
Standard Chartered has strengthened its asset-backed securitisation (ABS) capabilities with three new hires.
Basel II securitisation treatment too harsh, says Fitch
The treatment of securitisations under current proposals in the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s Basel II capital Accord is likely to be “overly punitive”, according to credit rating agency Fitch.
BoA adds to European structured debt and risk management team
Banc of America Securities, the investment banking arm of Bank of America, has boosted its European debt capital raising and risk management group.
RWE deploys Trema to integrate treasury and asset management operations
German utility powerhouse RWE plans to extend its straight-through processing (STP) capabilities across its global subsidiaries using front, middle and back office integrated software from Swedish technology company Trema.
Meff launches Spanish central counterparty for repos
Meff, the Spanish derivatives exchange, plans to act as a central counterparty for government bond repurchase agreements (repos), following a change in Spanish finance law.
AIG hires risk manager in New York
Paul Stubbs will join AIG Trading Group in Greenwich, Connecticut, as a vice-president in foreign exchange and commodity risk management. He will report to Mark Balfan, senior vice-president and global head of market risk management.
Basel II may prompt mortgage market consolidation
The Tower Group, a US-based consultancy, has just published a report that says the Basel II capital Accord may prompt the consolidation of mortgage lenders in both the US and EU markets, and improve pricing in mortgage instruments.
Mizuho takes FNX for foreign exchange options
Mizuho Tokyo has upgraded to release 4.4 of FNX’s Sierra System for FX options trading. The new release has faster algorithms and architecture to accommodate Mizuho’s high volumes, FNX said.
Tiffe to launch long-term interest rate futures
The Tokyo International Financial Futures Exchange (Tiffe) plans to launch long-term interest rate futures by May, despite a fall-off in interest for the exchange's short-term rates contracts.
Ong moves into academia
Former chief risk officer for the Americas at Credit Agricole Indosuez, Michael Ong, has moved into academia with a full professorship and directorship on the finance program at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.