Derivs - Credit

Standard Chartered this afternoon announced a series of global markets hires under Mohammed Grimeh, head of global markets in the Americas. Among them, John Chua, a trader from ING, joins within a week or two as a director in credit trading.

The Austrian government is set to grant its Financial Market Authority greater power to police illegal trading activities, such as insider trading and miss-marking positions, and to review the systems firms have in place to monitor their exposures.

Credit default swaps on CIT Group closed at 42.5 points upfront today, only two points wider than yesterday—despite news this morning that CEO Jeffrey Peek plans to resign by year-end and the fact the fate of the company hangs in the balance.

The over-the-counter derivatives bill by Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) is closer to the Obama administration’s earlier proposal, in what one derivatives lawyer called “a step backwards.” It may also have pressured Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to tighten up his proposal, which was seen as relatively favorable to the industry.

A privately held company not affiliated with any dealers has launched an online price comparison service at DerivativeSupermarket.com. So far it caters to requests on credit default swaps and interest rate swaps, and claims to be the first Web site of its kind.

Nomura has hired a pair of former Lehman Brothers executives, Charles Spero and Jeffrey Michaels, to oversee fixed-income sales, trading, research and structuring in the Americas.

UBS has hired a pair of Barclays Capital credit trading honchos in Asia, Romeo Uyan and Kevin Aepli.

The UK’s Financial Services Authority has brushed aside industry concerns about its stringent new liquidity regime, publishing a final policy this week that retains the most controversial features.

BNP Paribas has hired Stephen Chiang, formerly a v.p. at Barclays Capital, as a v.p. in corporate derivatives and fx marketing in New York.

Ross McClaren, a credit portfolio manager at Marathon Asset Management in New York, has joined Royal Bank of Scotland as head of local markets trading in Stamford, Conn.

BNY Mellon plans to move its Asia derivatives trading business from Tokyo to Hong Kong and expand its sales force in the country, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

Senior members of the European Parliament Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee are supporting calls for corporations to be exempted from over-the-counter derivatives regulation.