Derivs - Equity

LCH. Clearnet has launched its SwapClear Consultancy Certification Program which will certify consulting firms to advise end-users about OTC derivatives clearing.

UBS has begun marketing novel index basket credit linked notes in Switzerland.

The Singapore Exchange’s proposed lowering of its clearinghouse membership threshold to a SGD50 million (USD40.6 million) minimum share capital value from SGD1 billion (USD1.23 billion) could introduce ill-equipped clients into the nascent CCP.

Ross Ryan, a delta 1 and equity finance trader at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, has resigned from the firm to join Barclays.

The Australian Securities Exchange is counting on the launch of new interest rate swaps, equity index derivatives and the establishment of a central clearing counterparty for over-the-counter derivatives to boost revenue as the global downturn hits equity trading volumes.

Proposed changes regarding how U.K. client assets are held by non-bank clearing members may result in significant operational challenges and greater costs in futures clearing.

Drew Blackburn, director and head of delta one sales at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, resigned last week.

The Singapore Exchange plans to implement client clearing for central clearing counterparty members. It is also gearing to bolster protection for customer collateral in an event of default scenario. The ideas have been included in a SGX public consultation.

More swaps dealers are likely to become designated contract markets, rather than swap execution facilities. That’s according to a TABB Group report, which notes DCMs have a more favorable regulatory touch and the rules for SEFs remain largely unclear.

Max De Gaspari, an equity derivatives salesman at Credit Suisse in London, has left the firm.

The default of Lehman Brothers in 2008 brought attention to counterparty risk and collateral management in the financial markets, to the extent that they are now board-level issues for both banks and fund managers. The regulatory reform that is underway, and which resulted from the need to reduce systemic risk, has, in many ways, increased the number of challenges related to accessing and managing collateral. This Learning Curve explores those challenges and examines how they can be addressed.

DBS Bank will launch a new series of equity-linked structured products once risk appetite returns to Hong Kong’s instutional and retail market.