News
ABN Amro expands forex strategy team
Dutch bank ABN Amro is expanding its London foreign exchange strategy team by hiring Aziz McMahon, formerly a treasury economist with Ulster Bank, as a forex strategist.
JP Morgan accuses WestLB on $165m Enron swap
JP Morgan Chase has accused WestLB of failing to make payment on a $165 million letter of credit (l/c) backing an Enron-related swap. JP Morgan Chase made the dispute public, though it did not name West LB, instead merely referring to “a European…
CSFB handed record fine for UK derivatives trades
The Securities and Futures Authority (SFA), a subsidiary of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has fined investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) a total of £540,000, for two breaches of its FSA Principle 9 regulatory standard. The amount…
Credit derivatives see six-fold increase in three years
The over-the-counter (OTC) credit derivatives market stood at $694 billion in June, a six-fold increase in the last three years, according to the latest global triennial survey released by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today.
Deutsche, UBS Warburg back Rolfe & Nolan
Deutsche Bank and UBS Warburg have agreed to fund the development of the first two modules of Rolfe & Nolan's much-awaited Merlin software suite in return for long-term licensing agreements.
Feder to head Japanese derivatives for Bear Stearns
US investment bank Bear Stearns has appointed Leonard Feder to the newly created position of head of fixed income and derivatives for Japan. Feder will be responsible for the firm’s trading and risk management strategy for Japan, including corporate…
Analysts warned to be wary of the yield-curve
Market participants that use short-term movements in the yield curve as signals of future economic development could be mistaken in their analysis, according to a recent report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Raft posts loss as deal flow fails to materialise
AIM-listed risk management technology supplier, Raft, has made a loss of £826,000 for its financial year, a result said to be well below city expectations. The previous year's results had showed a profit of £171,000.
Isda's Euro Protocol draws 242 signatories
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda) said this week that 242 dealers and end-users signed its 2001 Euro Protocol by the November 30 deadline. Isda issued the Euro Protocol in September in response to documentation concerns voiced by…
Open interest on E-mini futures surges; S&P 500 vol relents
Open interest on Nasdaq 100 and S&P E-mini futures contracts, electronically traded index futures and options that are smaller than standard futures contracts, has increased by 63% and 15%, respectively, since October. The ratio of open interest to…
Lo wins Iafe financial engineer of the year award
The International Association of Financial Engineers (Iafe) has named Andrew Lo, Harris & Harris group professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the director of MIT's Laboratory for Financial Engineering, as financial engineer of the year.
Costas named chief executive at UBS Warburg; Arnold ousted
UBS Warburg, the investment banking unit of Switzerland’s UBS, has promoted John Costas to chief executive. Based in London, Costas will assume the day-to-day operational leadership of the business group and will sit on the UBS group executive board.
Swift moves a step closer to STP
Swift, the industry-owned provider of messaging services and interface software to over 7,000 financial institutions, has teamed with Financial Fusion and Global Crossing to provide a FIX hub messaging application to the securities industry. The move…
HKMA to form direct link to Euroclear
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and Euroclear plan to build a direct link between the HKMA’s central money markets unit (CMU) and the Brussels-based international central securities depository.
Ferc to examine derivatives accounting
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Ferc) is considering adopting new accounting rules governing the use of derivatives by energy companies.
Icap raises £2.8 million in charity day
UK-based interdealer broker Icap donated £2.8 million – its total broking commissions for December 12 – to a range of charities around the world. The brokerage’s ninth annual charity day involved 12 offices and began with the opening of trading in Sydney.
Financial institutions reassess risk probabilities
Financial institutions are now increasingly concerned with the likelihood of certain risks following the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, Enron’s near-collapse and Argentina’s debt problems, the US Securities Industry Association (SIA) said in a…
EasyScreen lures in Warburg's Kleinops to boost US effort
EasyScreen, the London-based front-end futures and options software vendor, has made Jim Kleinops its new head of technical sales and design for its US office in Chicago.
Basel II op risk sound practices paper expected next week
Global banking regulators hope to issue their much-delayed paper on sound practices for managing operational hazards such as fraud, technology failure and trade settlement errors next week.
JP Morgan Chase claims success for new high-yield bond index
JP Morgan Chase is claiming success for HYDI-100, its six-week-old credit default swap index, which is referenced to 100 of the most liquid names in the bank’s high-yield bond index.
InvestorForce in hedge fund data clarity drive
Pennsylvania-based technology vendor InvestorForce has launched an online service that lets investors access data and information from the murky world of hedge fund managers.
Euronext agrees €130m Portuguese exchange takeover
Pan-European exchange Euronext has reached agreement with the Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa e Porto (BVLP) to buy out the Portuguese group for €130 million in a cash and shares offer. The move is the latest part of Euronext's effort to create a truly pan…
SME debate delays Basel II consultative paper
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has delayed its next consultative paper for Basel II, the new rules that will determine the amount of regulatory capital internationally active banks put aside against risk, following a meeting of the committee…
Swiss and UK banks set to win as Japanese lose in Basel II
Swiss and UK banks are poised to be the main beneficiaries from the proposed new regulatory capital accord, Basel II, according to results from the Basel committee’s quantitative impact study 2.5 (QIS2.5).