Derivs - Credit

A gulf divides buysiders and sellsiders on how much in derivatives will be electronically traded this year and the level of price transparency in different asset classes seen last year, according to a survey by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

Ben Rick, head of credit proprietary trading for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, has left the firm.

Derivatives accountants have defended new proposals released by the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board, after the International Swaps and Derivatives Association yesterday opposed new rules for the reporting of derivatives in financial statements.

The Japan Financial Services Agency plans to begin taxing over-the-counter derivatives used by individual investors the same way as their listed counterparts, meaning gains will get charged a flat 20% instead of being lumped into general income where gains could be taxed as much as 50%.

The recently-approved new over-the-counter derivative rules from the China Banking Regulatory Commission will open the derivatives market to asset managers as well as dealers, according to a report by Allen & Overy lawyers.

The strong rally that has taken hold of the sovereign market since Jan. 10 came to an end last week.

Powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority to decide which over-the-counter derivatives can be cleared are being trimmed even before the pan-European regulator has had a chance to formerly weigh in on the issue.

Some U.S. funds have been buying options and option spreads against the euro, driven by the idea Germany could exit the single currency in the next two years, according to fund managers and structurers on both sides of the Atlantic. The structures have received a spurt in interest as funds zero in on sovereign debt concerns in the region.

An all-to-all format of pricing and trading over-the-counter derivative swaps could lead to a flash crash in the interest rates market, according to Peter Fisher, vice chairman at BlackRock.

Investors in equity tranches of baskets of corporate credit default swaps are lengthening the tenors of their trades.

Regulators need to allow derivative endusers the opportunity to opt-out of utilizing an omnibus style clearing account with its clearinghouse in a swap post-Dodd-Frank, said Roger Liddell, ceo of LCH.Clearnet at TabbForum’s Derivatives Reform: Preparing for Change conference yesterday in New York.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has written to the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to express fears over plans for the registration of non-U.S. swap data repositories.