Foreign exchange
Shrinking dividends may be a mixed blessing
Implied dividends beyond 2009 remain at highly distressed levels, creating torment for dealers and hedge funds with dividend exposures, but providing opportunities for market participants elsewhere.
Treasury launches Talf, drops compensation caps
The US Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank of New York launched the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (Talf) yesterday, but opted to remove restrictions on executive remuneration for participating institutions.
Boillereau takes over cash FX at HSBC as Brown departs
Frederic Boillereau, global head of foreign exchange and metals at HSBC in London has added cash FX to his responsibilities. Andrew Brown, global head of FX and a nine-year veteran of the bank, has left the bank. Boillereau's new role will bring together…
Islamic exchange traded gold tracker launched in Dubai
Dubai Gold Securities, a limited liability partnership formed in January 2009 between the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre Authority and Dubai Commodity Asset Management, has launched the sharia-compliant gold security, an exchange traded commodity security…
Casam lists 11 new ETFs as issuance accelerates
Credit Agricole Structured Asset Management (Casam) has listed 11 new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) covering different sectors in Europe, Eastern Europe, broad European equity exposure and two Asian markets.
EM focus pays off again for Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered Bank, the emerging markets specialist, has again bucked the trend in the banking industry, reporting a double-digit rise in earnings for 2008 and a cautiously positive outlook for 2009 today.
SG offers yen warrants to UK retail investors
Société Générale has listed 10 new FX-linked covered warrants on the London Stock Exchange. The warrants fluctuate in value according to the exchange rate between either the Japanese yen against sterling, or against the US dollar.
US Wrap: Reverse convertibles hold sway as underlying scope widens
Reverse convertibles dominated US issuance on Friday, as did Barclays Bank, which issued 13 of the notes. Alongside the usual smattering of energy companies, two gold producers were included - a different perspective from investing in the precious metal…
Barcap offers new accounts for offshore bond series
Barclays Capital has launched two new structured deposit accounts for its offshore bond series: the three-year guaranteed digital and the five-year guaranteed FTSE 100 deposit accounts. The accounts are designed exclusively for use within offshore bonds…
Yen weakens as carry trades unwind, yen and equities decorrelate
The unwinding of yen carry trades and the de-correlation of the yen with equity markets, as well as wider economic factors, have all been linked to the yen's decline over the past month.
US to restructure AIG bailout after $61.7 billion Q4 loss
Marking the largest corporate quarterly loss in US history, today AIG reported that it lost $61.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008. It blamed disruption in the credit markets, particularly within its commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS)…
Lehman likely to recoup value of derivatives trades
Counterparties to derivatives trades with Lehman Brothers that are currently in-the-money for the bankrupt estate will not be able to hold off payment indefinitely, predict lawyers.
Adapt or fail
Since October last year, extreme movements in South Africa's foreign exchange rate have caused offshore hedge funds to exit the market, while dealers have been reluctant to take on risk. Those that remain active have had to adapt their behaviour. By Mark…
Just another tool in the box
Credit ratings
ASF 2009 highlights challenges for securitisation market
The annual conference for securitisation professionals, held in Las Vegas, showed that the industry is under no illusions about the difficulties it is currently going through, but that there is a collective will to turn the situation round. Mark Kahn of…
Crunch time for autos
The world's carmakers are battling for survival. Should bondholders shun the sector or is there value in the firms best placed to beat the recession? Nikki Marmery reports
ASF 2009 highlights challenges for securitisation market
The annual conference for securitisation professionals, held in Las Vegas, showed that the industry is under no illusions about the difficulties it is currently going through, but that there is a collective will to turn the situation round. Mark Kahn of…
Swap shop
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, under its chief executive Bob Pickel (right), is the trade body for dealers of, amongst other things, credit derivatives. As such, Pickel and his members are at the centre of a storm raging around the…
Dealers and regulators: Who will blink first?
High noon for CDS Clearing
What to do with the toxic debt
The issue of how to tackle the vast quantities of impaired assets lingering on banks' balance sheets has given rise to several possible solutions, chief among which is the notion of a 'bad bank'. Credit asks five market participants how such a scheme…