Derivs - Credit

Lower rates and attractive levels of volatility on the Thai baht swap curve give investors the opportunity to buy 1y2y 3.25% receiver swaptions, according to the Royal Bank of Scotland.

MarketDirect, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s electronic structured products platform, plans to offer interest rate products to clients later this year. The move comes as single dealer and multi-dealer platforms are expanding offerings via electronic execution.

The European Central Bank’s largesse continues to underpin the becalmed conditions in the sovereign market and it will take a significant negative catalyst to shift sentiment.

Investors should set up curve steepeners to hedge a turnaround in the Asia credit market in the middle of this year, according to Guy Stear, Asia equity and credit strategist at Société Générale in Hong Kong.

Daniel Malone, head of U.S. interest rate sales at Barclays in New York, has left the firm.

TriOptima eliminated USD84 trillion in over-the-counter derivatives notional principal outstandings in 2012, via its portfolio compression service that allows counterparties to tear up offsetting trades.

Nick Strain, managing director and head of the fx emerging market sales desk at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, has left the firm.

For market participants who are bearish on U.S. rate volatility, JPMorgan is recommending selling 3Mx10Y swaption straddles with a rate hedge overlay.

The Hong Kong Exchange plans to sell a minority stake in its new over-the-counter clearinghouse to around 12 Chinese and international banking institutions prior to the CCP’s launch this April.

Approaches to applying prudent valuation requirements to trading positions, set out by the European Banking Authority under the draft capital requirements regulation, are unnecessarily prescriptive and formulaic, according to a number of trade associations.

Liquidity in iBoxx total return swaps is set to increase in the coming months as European investors look to deploy cash temporarily on a tactical basis in the current low interest rate environment.

Justin Yang, managing director and co-head of credit sales at UBS in Hong Kong, has left the firm.