Derivs - Credit

FlexTrade Systems has acquired Derivix, an options software provider for the equities and derivatives markets.

Baring Asset Management is expanding its fixed income business in Asia with new products and introducing existing ones to new markets, according to Sean Chang, its new head of Asian debt investment.

Interdealer-broker ICAP has eliminated 70 jobs in London in a move to cut costs by GBP50 million (USD77.5 million) in 2012.

NYSE Euronext has announced that LIFFE Administration and Management, its London derivatives market, has terminated its clearing relationship with LCH.Clearnet.

Swap dealers will be able to determine whether a counterparty has the appropriate knowledge and soundness to enter into a swap agreement, according to a draft of business conduct protocols circulated by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association.

Daiwa Capital Markets is shifting its business to target its home market of Japan.

David Wright, the recently appointed secretary general of the International Organization of Securities Commissions, plans to develop a research foundation.

Messaging protocols for many over-the-counter products that will be mandated to be cleared are already standardized, according to Philip Whitehurst, director of SwapClear product management at LCH.Clearnet.

Banks acting as counterparties in securitizations are set to begin work swiftly to address the effects of Moody’s Investors Service’s sweeping bank downgrades last week, which will have a far-reaching effect on securitization deal ratings, according to DI sister publication Securitization Intelligence.

Simon Banfield, senior U.K. flow credit salesman for cash and synthetics at BNP Paribas in London, has left the firm.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has re-proposed a rule that, if enacted, will expand the kinds of firms eligible for block trading by aggregating client funds. The original rule had a narrower base of firms.

European hedge funds have buying credit default swaps on Norway over the past week as a macro hedge because the spreads on the country were cheap relative to the rest of Europe.