News
Fix for fixed-income uptake remains slow
Buy-side firms are continuing their ‘wait-and-see’ approach when it comes to implementing the Fix protocol to support their fixed-income businesses, according to Fix Protocol Limited (FPL).
BoA hires mainland China head
Bank of America (BoA) has hired Helen Pun as managing director, head of mainland China for bank and non-bank financial institutions. Based in Hong Kong, she assumes responsibility for marketing structured and cross-border products across the mainland…
Maple Leaf debuts with Sophis and TradingScreen risk management product
Maple Leaf Capital, a hedge fund based in London, has signed up to use an integrated risk management system developed by Paris-based risk management systems provider Sophis and TradingScreen, a supplier of connectivity for asset managers, located in…
PwC: Poor governance will cost capital
HONG KONG - Sixty percent of respondents to a recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study indicated that trust in financial institutions had been eroded globally.
McDonough speaks on QIS3 results, and US regulatory changes
"At this early stage, the results suggest that the incentives built into the New Accord are functioning as we had hoped," said William McDonough, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision…
Goldman to introduce single data portal
Goldman Sachs plans to replace its Financial Workbench fixed-income research portal with a new system that will centralise data and research from across the bank for buy-side and corporate clients in the coming months.
GNI to replace Algo RiskWatch with SunGard Panorama
GNI Fund Management (GNI FM), a London-based fund of hedge funds with about $550 million of assets under management, started its implementation of SunGard Trading and Risk Systems’ Panorama platform early this month. The system is scheduled to go live at…
Eurex increases share of Dutch equity options market
Eurex increased its share of the Dutch equity options market tenfold last year, the Swiss-German derivatives exchange said in a statement today.
Trayport offers swaps as part of updated brokerage system
London-based trading software vendor Trayport has launched the latest version of Global Vision, which includes support for foreign exchange forwards, repo, interest rate swaps and credit derivatives.
Vwd Launches Energy Analysis Service
German news and data provider vwd has launched an analysis product for the electricity and natural gas markets. The service is aimed at energy traders, analysts, portfolio managers, distributors and brokers.
Heavyweights move to tackle rising unnamed counterparty risk
Top foreign exchange banks are joining forces with central banks and industry groups to eliminate unnamed counterparty risk.
New Star sets up convertible arbitrage hedge fund
London's New Star Asset Management has hired two ex-Soros Fund Management hedge fund managers to run its new convertible arbitrage fund, which is due to begin trading at the end of March.
Basel II likely to boost credit markets, says Fitch
The Basel II capital Accord is likely to boost credit market funding activities, particularly for lower investment-grade companies seeking financing, according to Fitch, the credit rating agency.
BIS to offer derivatives statistics for individual countries
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said today that it is expanding its statistics on banks' country risk exposures to include data on derivatives exposures to individual countries.
BIS to offer derivatives statistics for individual countries
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said today that it is expanding its statistics on banks' country risk exposures to include data on derivatives exposures to individual countries.
Japanese bank spreads hit on renewed equities portfolio concerns
Spreads on Japanese bank credit default swaps widened an average 10 basis points this week, sparked by renewed investor concerns about unrealised losses linked to their large equity portfolios.
Basel II likely to boost credit markets, says Fitch
The Basel II capital Accord is likely to boost credit market funding activities, particularly for lower investment-grade companies seeking financing, according to Fitch, the credit rating agency.
BoA hires global markets head in Hong Kong
Bank of America (BoA) has hired Abidin Siregar in a newly created role as head of global markets, Hong Kong. He will assume responsibility for sales, trading and research as well as building the bank’s debt capital raising business across the region.
Lehman appoints head of equity derivatives sales
Lehman Brothers has named Joseph Amato, ex-managing director and head of global equity research, as head of global equity sales, overseeing sales coverage of all cash, derivatives, convertibles and equity finance products worldwide.
Hedge fund of fund investors may start using overlays
Improved risk exposure reporting by hedge funds may spark the introduction of new overlay strategies by investors increasingly concerned by bubbles of non-diversifiable risk in their portfolios.
Pension deficit concern sparks demand for default protection
Traders saw a marked increase in volumes for credit protection, following a credit watch alert by rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on 12 major European corporations earlier today. S&P today warned that the companies, including Sainsbury’s, Rolls…
Tiner defends insurance margin changes
In a speech today to the Westminster & City Twentieth Anniversary life insurance conference, the Financial Services Authority's John Tiner sought to clarify a letter, released last Friday, that relaxed the solvency regime for UK life assurers.
FSA decision prompts tightening for insurers' credit spreads
The cost of protection for the European insurance sector has tightened by up to 15bp in trading this week following a decision by UK regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to ease regulatory solvency requirements for individual life assurers.
Tiner says risk management must improve at life insurers
"Changes are...underway in the relationship between insurance companies and their supervisors," said John Tiner, head of the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) in a speech today to the Westminster & City Twentieth Anniversary life insurance…