Derivs - Credit

PARIS -- Dealers will have to find ways to price counterparty risk, especially as derivative transactions by corporates may be exempt from clearing obligations.

Philip Tsao, a managing director and head of the asset owners sales group the Asia derivatives distribution group at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, has left the firm, according to officials familiar with the move.

Deutsche Bank has added Florent Jaquard and Vassilis Paschopoulos, a credit salesman and trader from Credit Suisse and UBS, respectively.

Leo Tong, head of G3 (euro, yen and U.S. Dollar) credit sales for derivatives and cash at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong, resigned from the firm last week, according to an official familiar with the move.

A three- to five-year exemption for pension funds from clearing obligations is likely to be included in the next compromise text from the E.U. Council’s working group on European Market Infrastructure Regulation.

Citigroup has hired Harsh Jaggi as head of structured credit sales for the Americas in New York.

Russia legislators have approved close-out netting for derivatives--a move that should fuel growth in a market that has widely been seen as hampered by the issue.

Fans of basketball are no doubt bemoaning the end of March Madness, particular since the final game was so painfully boring and sloppy to watch. For many fans, an introduction to basketball started with an innocent game of “P-I-G” or “H-O-R-S-E.”

The Japan Securities Clearing Corporation has outlined its model for credit default swap clearing and set a target date of July 19 to begin clearing CDS on the iTraxx Japan index.

Michael Vasseghi, head of macro structuring encompassing rates and fx at UBS in Stamford, Conn., has left the firm.

In March, USD12.7 billion worth of interest rate swaps were cleared through the Singapore Exchange central counterparty, AsiaClear, up USD2.5 billion from the previous month.

Jason Garrett, global head of credit flow sales at Société Générale in London, is set to leave the firm this week.