Derivs - Equity

Distributors in South Korea and private banks in Asia Pacific are buying UCITS-compliant fund-linked structured products that mainly offer fixed coupons. The move comes as investors opt for UCITS funds over custom indices as they provide greater transparency and liquidity.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is set to make two key hires to its equity derivatives team in Hong Kong, enlisting former-UBS sales chief Julien Bahurel and Morgan Stanley exotics trader Arnaud Droitcourt.

Horizons ETFs Management, a subsidiary of Mirae Asset Global Investments, has hired Joe Cunningham as e.v.p and head of capital markets for Horizons USA.

Nomura is considering expanding its clearing team in Asia. “It’s one of the growth areas for the bank, as we expect the market to expand quite rapidly,” Lee McCormack, client clearing business development manager in London, told DI in an interview.

Deutsche Bank will list five synthetic exchange-traded funds on the Hong Kong Exchange on Thursday, which will reference country specific indices and a regional Asia ex-Japan index.

Citigroup is set to hire Cornelius Griffin, head of equity exotics trading at Deutsche Bank in New York, and Paul Mandell, a senior single stock trader, also at Deutsche Bank in New York, in similar roles.

EFG Financial Products has launched tracker certificates on a basket of Southeast Asia exchange-traded funds and indices as companies post increasing profits and stock exchanges in the region increase at a greater pace than their developed counterparts.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Julien Bahurel, co-head of equity derivatives distribution, Asia Pacific, at UBS in Hong Kong, in a similar role.

Financial transaction tax proposals being drawn up by some European Union member states may force some firms to open subsidiaries outside the tax zone, according to ICAP.

David Carr, global head of sales at ANZ in Singapore, has left the firm.

Imran Lakha, the ex-head of European index options trading at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, is set to join Citigroup as a senior equity index options trader, also in London.

Investors are being urged to monetize the current dislocation in the Nikkei repo by taking exposure to the repo rate through shorting a forward start total return swap.