News
Singapore reconsiders hedge fund rules
Hot on the heels of Hong Kong’s decision to open up the hedge fund market to retail investors, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is now revising its own rules on retail hedge fund investments, bringing it in line with its main regional rival.
Singapore harmonises risk-based regulation of financial firms
Singapore financial regulators said today they would integrate risk-based regulation of banks, insurance companies and investment firms under a new department from September 1.
Standard Bank Asia signs up Spectrum
Standard Bank Asia is to use Pennsylvania-based foreign exchange and interest rate risk management software provider Financial Software Systems’ Spectrum Treasury System in its Hong Kong trading centre to manage money market instruments, interest rate…
UK allows for Basel II delays in risk-based rules for financial services
LONDON - UK regulators said in late July they would implement their plans for uniform, risk-based rules for UK-based banks, insurance companies and securities firms in several stages, instead of one or two, following delays to the Basel II bank accord.
Op risk floor removed to give flexibility
BASEL, SWITZERLAND - Global banking regulators have removed the operational risk capital floor previously proposed under the Basel II capital accord to give banks flexibility in developing op risk management systems.
SG expands fixed-income distribution team
SG, the corporate and investment banking arm of Société Générale, has hired Philip Brutsche to its German and eastern European fixed-income distribution team. Brutsche will be responsible for marketing flow fixed-income products, including interest rate…
Van Tonder takes over as Front’s South Africa head
Cliff van Tonder has assumed leadership of Front Capital Systems’ South Africa office. He will maintain relations with existing Front clients such as ABSA, Standard Bank, Nedcor and Investec, as well as targeting new clients likely to include prominent…
FCTM signs up for Summit risk management software
First Chicago Tokio Marine Financial Products, a joint venture between Bank One of the US and Japan's Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance, has signed up to use New York-based risk management systems provider Summit Systems’ front-to-back modular software…
Credit Markets Update: US airline woes push up protection costs on European carriers
The cost of credit protection on European airlines widened by 10 to 20 basis points this week following investor concerns about the state of the American airline industry.
Basel Committee reissues op risk paper to give broader scope
BASEL, SWITZERLAND - Global banking regulators reissued in July, as they had said they would, a consultative paper on sound practices for operational risk management to give it a broader scope for smaller, local banks.
UK accepts large banks could use basic op risk approach
LONDON - The UK’s chief financial market watchdog said in July it accepted that a large international bank could use the basic indicator approach, the simplest of the three approaches to calculating operational risk capital charges proposed under the…
Nash joins the Royal Bank of Scotland
Ralph Nash, previously with the secretariat of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in Basel, Switzerland, joined the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBOS) in July as London-based Basel II operational risk co-ordinator for the RBOS group.
Fitch gets OpVar loss database with NetRisk purchase
NEW YORK - Fitch Risk Management, part of rating agency Fitch, said in mid-July it was acquiring NetRisk and its subsidiary OpVantage, both Connecticut-based risk management companies.
Borealis signs up to Tempest XL risk management system
Borealis Group, the Danish chemical producer, is to use the Tempest XL trading and risk management system developed by technology and systems provider Triple Point Technology.
Skandia Liv likely to up hedge fund investments by year-end
Skandia Liv, the life assurance arm of Sweden’s Skandia with $27 billion in funds under management at the end of last year, is set to increase its investments in hedge funds by the end of the year, according to Malin Björkmo, Skandia Liv chief investment…
EU default rates hit record high in Q2, says S&P
Rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) said speculative-grade default rates in the European Union (EU) soared to a record high in the second quarter. The EU recorded a default rate of 5.11% in the second quarter, surpassing both the global and US…
Vijayan quits Andersen to join Principia Partners
Anil Vijayan, former head of the straight-through processing practice in the consulting division of auditor Andersen, has moved to software vendor Principia Partners to shape the New Jersey-based company’s FAS 133 and IAS 39 derivatives accounting…
SunGard snaps up UK’s Monis
US trading and risk technology supplier SunGard has acquired Monis, the derivatives software company, in a move designed to combine the former’s straight-through processing (STP) expertise with the latter’s pricing systems. The move is part of an ongoing…
CME offers past derivatives data
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is offering a new service called CME E-History, a fee-based service that will automate the provision of historical price data for CME futures and options for analysing price trends.
Amex and Iverson to monitor ETFs
Iverson Financial has developed a new service, Amex ETF Monitor (AEM), for the American Stock Exchange as part of a two-month-old joint partnership agreement, RIskNews ' sister publication Inside Market Data has learned. Amex ETF Monitor is a published…
Economist questions banks’ approach to VAR analysis
Bank risk managers must use more intra-day price data – also referred to as high-frequency data – to improve their value-at-risk analyses, according to Richard Olsen, an economist and founder of Zurich-based hedge fund and risk services company Olsen.
Currenex and RCP launch buy-side interface
Global online currency exchange Currenex and UK-based straight-through processing (STP) specialist RCP Consultants have developed an interface that offers immediate connectivity between Currenex’s FX trading system and many treasury and portfolio…
New director of group risk management at Invensys
Invensys, the production technology and energy management company, has hired Nick Smith as director of group risk management in London.
Japan Credit Market Update: Fujitsu and bank spreads hit in tighter general market
The cost of credit protection was higher on Japanese banks and some electronics names this week, amid a more stabilised market.