Derivs - Credit

Dealers in Japan have agreed to adopt three coupons—25, 100 and 500 basis points—for single name credit default swap contracts.

A New York regulator held back-to-back meetings with dealers last week and listened to warnings about the pitfalls of outlawing naked credit default swaps, but did not fundamentally alter his views.

Paul Levy, the former head of exotic credit derivatives structuring for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Merrill Lynch in London, has joined UBS as European head of credit structuring.

Coordination between Europe and the U.S. is essential in an effort to regulate the over-the-counter derivatives markets, Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, told a European Commission gathering in Brussels this morning.

European regulators are warning against adopting the same over-the-counter regulatory proposals being put forward in the U.S.

Several CDS players are not rolling their positions on the CDX North American Investment Grade index to series 13 from series 12 in the belief the basis between them will narrow as time goes on.

A new over-the-counter derivatives bill put forward by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) would give the Securities and Exchange Commission oversight of all security-based derivatives, including those referencing broad-based indices—indices with 10 or more component securities.

The Obama administration’s proposed over-the-counter derivatives reforms have got some hedge funds pondering the future of synthetic prime brokerage under a mandate that could see standardized OTCs centrally cleared and traded on exchange.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) introduced a new over-the-counter derivatives bill this afternoon, a month after the Obama administration presented its own OTC bill to Congress.

Tomorrow’s deadline for filing claims against Lehman Brothers could prompt a flurry of trading in derivatives contracts where the bank served as swap counterparty, according to market watchers.

Darren Baggett, a managing director in index trading in London, who resigned from Morgan Stanley in January (DW Online, 1/29), rejoined the firm a few weeks ago in a newly created post.

StormHarbour Partners, the London boutique formed by ex-Citigroup trading executives Antonio Cacorino and Fred Chapey, has added 22 staffers across London and New York in recent weeks, including Won Choi as head of European credit from Citigroup.