Derivs - Credit

Cantor Fitzgerald has promoted Martin Teevan and Carmine Urciuoli to the newly created positions of co-heads of global credit, as it continues to grow its credit desk. This is the latest in a string of moves to bulk up the company’s credit operations.

Markit and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. will launch their joint trade processing venture on Sept. 1 and are open to another partner should the need arise.

Better-than-expected quarterly earnings from American International Group on Friday have some investors selling off their CDS positions on the name, while others cling on should spreads gap out again. “There isn’t a consensus view,” said one New York trader.

Iceland’s Special Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed it is investigating Kaupthing Bank over potential abuses relating to credit default swap transactions. Ólafur Hauksson, head of the office in Reykvaik, told Derivatives Week the case was sent from Iceland’s Financial Supervisory Authority but that the agency “only recently got it” so there is very little information he could share.

Munich-based Assenagon Asset Management is planning to launch a credit-linked fund in October, after last week announcing it had raised EUR320 million (USD453 million) for a negative basis fund.

Tiden Capital, a Durham, N.C.-based hedge fund focusing on relative value in corporate structured credit, has improved the liquidity terms for its Tiden Core Fund.

A Determinations Committee for loan-only credit default swaps is in the offing as the format for deciding which events trigger derivative contracts is expanded beyond corporate CDS.

Marjorie Hogan, who started the mortgage derivatives desk at Bear Stearns, has surfaced at New York volatility trading firm Capstone Holdings, where she recently began trading. As senior portfolio manager at Capstone Credit Advisors—a new unit—she is overseeing the firm’s expansion into credit.

Olympia Capital Management plans to launch a credit-focused fund of funds before the end of September—the USD3 billion firm’s first fund dedicated solely to the asset class.

The final draft of proposed derivatives legislation from the Obama administration—due out later this week—is not expected to crack down on naked credit default swaps, positions that are unhedged by the underlying credit.

Joel Telpner, a partner specializing in derivatives at law firm Mayer Brown in New York, has left the firm to join Jones Day, where he started Monday as a partner in the banking and finance practice.

Two credit default swap and high-yield bond salespeople have left Calyon in London. Caroline Fischer and Stephen Elliott, directors, resigned a week ago and two weeks ago, respectively.