Scotia Capital is looking to build a global equity derivatives business. As part of the move Ali Salahuddin, a director atMerrill Lynch in London, has joined in Toronto as head of trading.
Salahuddin has a remit to build a business offering a full range of both over-the-counter and listed equity derivatives. These include correlation-based and exotic structures and fund-linked products. The move is driven in part to extend Scotia's sales effort to hedge funds, alongside its existing institutional and retail customers.
The firm already offers a range of simple equity derivatives, including futures, forwards, swaps and exchange-traded funds. It has also been building up sales and earlier this year hired David Menikefs, managing director in equity and commodity structured notes at CIBC in Toronto, to head structured notes marketing.
Salahuddin reports in to Mike Durland, co-head of capital markets. In an emailed statement to DW, Durland said the firm will focus initially on the Americas, followed by Europe and Asia. Asked why the firm has decided to step up its equity effort now, Durland noted Scotia is looking to diversify revenues across asset classes and is also expanding its credit and commodities businesses.
