Risk magazine/News
BofA names global head of forex trading
Bank of America (BofA) has hired Larry Baum to manage its global spot, forwards and proprietary foreign exchange trading business. The post has been vacant since December, when Richard Breslow, former global head of forex trading, left after more than…
DrKW hires global equities director in Tokyo
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has hired Hiroyuki Uno as director and senior marketer of global equities in Tokyo. He will head a team of derivatives marketers that will primarily focus on marketing equity derivatives products to financial…
Icap looks to buy First Broker Securities
Icap, the world's largest inter-dealer broker, is in discussions to buy First Broker Securities, the New York-based interdealer broker specialising in US-denominated corporate debt and high-yield bonds, according to an Icap spokesman.
HSBC to bolster Asian structured derivatives operation
HSBC is to expand its structured derivatives team in Asia in an attempt to leverage off its interest rate and currency swaps business.
Two new board members for CBOE
Craig Messinger, executive vice president of Boston-based Fidelity Capital Markets, and Thomas Patrick, a managing director at Merrill Lynch, have been appointed to the board of directors of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). They replace two…
RMS offers indexes for structuring weather derivatives
Risk Management Solutions (RMS), a California-based weather risk software and data firm, has started publishing regional weather indexes for the US on its website, www.climetrix.com. The indexes provide the weather derivatives market with a new benchmark…
BHP Billiton buys into weatherXchange
Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has bought a 7.5% stake in weatherXchange, an online weather derivatives data service, set up by the UK’s Meteorological Office and London-based Umbrella Brokers in June last year. BHP Billiton has an option to…
Bank of America to roll out derivatives system
Bank of America (BofA) is building a new derivatives trading platform called Advantage, which will be deployed in its Chicago, London, and Tokyo offices. It is also developing new trading floors in London’s Canary Wharf, New York, and Charlotte, North…
Electricity transmission changes fall by $10 billion, says study
Proposed changes to the US electricity transmission sector could save customers up to $10 billion per year, according to a study commissioned by the US federal energy regulator.
BNP Paribas begins issuing synthetic CDOs in Asia
French bank BNP Paribas plans to start issuing arbitrage synthetic collateralised debt obligations (CDOs) for the first time in Asia, ex-Japan, according to a Hong Kong-based official.
Aquila and Gensec offer weather derivatives in South Africa
Energy company Aquila and Gensec Bank have signed an alliance to market weather derivatives in South Africa. They will be the first weather products to be marketed in that country.
Swiss Re strikes $150 million contingent capital deal
Swiss Re, the Zurich-based reinsurer, has closed a $150 million contingent capital deal with MBIA, the world’s largest financial guarantor, based in Armonk, New York. The deal closed on December 27, but its details have been closely guarded until now.
Egar adds options component to equity derivatives suite
Egar Technology, the New York-based supplier of trading and risk management systems, whose best-known client is Canada's CIBC, has released a real-time equity options trading and risk management service developed for market makers.
FFastFill moves into US regulated market
London-based independent software vendor, FFastFill, has launched a new company, FFastTrade US, to deliver electronic trading systems to professional traders in the US.
UBS Warburg snares Merrill equity risk structurers
UBS Warburg has snared Min Park and Chang Sik Cin from Merrill Lynch to boost its equity derivatives risk services offered to institutional investors, corporate clients, and high-net-worth individuals.
Aurora buys Cygnifi Analytics
Aurora Software, a New York-based technology firm for fixed-income trading, has bought the Cygnifi Analytics Library. Cygnifi, the New York-based online derivatives service provider spun-off from JP Morgan in 1999, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy…
Risk tech firms partner to develop forex trading product
Risk technology firms, Pennsylvania-based Financial Software Systems (FSS), and New York-based PFS Trader Tools, said today that they are working together to develop a Web-based foreign exchange trading service. The risk management tool, branded…
Derivatives not to blame for Enron failure, says Greenspan
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, yesterday defended the role of derivatives in financial markets during a testimony to Congress. "The record of [derivatives] performance, especially over the past couple of stressful years, suggests…
SS&C expands derivatives valuation system
SS&C Technologies, a Connecticut-based financial software provider, yesterday made available a new equity swaps module for its debt and derivatives accounting and valuation application.
Defaults hit new record levels, says Moody’s
International rating agency Moody’s said that credit losses due to defaults reached record levels in 2001, as loss rates on speculative-grade defaulted bonds surged and recovery rates on the defaulted bonds plummeted for the third straight year.
Swiss Re warns on losses
Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurance groups, yesterday warned investors it expects to report a Sfr200 million ($115 million) loss when earnings are released in April. But the firm’s management will recommend an unchanged dividend of Sfr2.5…
New CFO for Reech Capital
Reech Capital, a London-based risk management consultancy, has hired Richard Gilbey as its new chief financial officer. Gilbey joins Reech from Indochina Asset Management, where he most recently served as chief investment officer in Southeast Asia,…
Totem looks to expand energy derivatives pricing products
Totem Market Valuations, the London-based derivatives valuation firm, has appointed Tom Charlesworth to expand its pricing services for long-dated oil, gas and power over-the-counter derivatives.
Nem committee aims to safeguard post-Enron credibility
Michael Walker, senior vice-president of New York-based energy derivatives technology company Caminus, was today named co-head of the executive committee of the National Energy Marketers Association (Nem). Together with Lee Taylor, senior vice-president…