Derivs - Equity

Shane Edwards, managing director and global head of structuring--investor products and equity derivatives at the Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong, resigned today.

Greater clarity is needed on rules for hedging and collateral from the European Securities and Markets Authority.

Zhenyu Duanmu, head of exotic equity-linked trading for Asia Pacific at Bank of America–Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong, is moving to Citigroup.

Application of regulatory requirements across borders is one of the most important issues that still need to be death with, according to David Lawton, acting director of markets at the Financial Services Authority.

Australia’s approach to mandatory clearing of over-the-counter derivatives will make it difficult to establish a domestic clearinghouse, moving clearing of Australian derivatives offshore and limiting the ability of local regulators to manage risk, according to industry officials.

Asian investors are shifting away from equity capital markets and moving more toward debt and credit funds, with only 41% putting ECM among their top three picks, down from 65% last year, according to a survey by AsianInvestor and law firm Clifford Chance.

Alexandre Capez, head of structured volatility at Nomura in London, has left the firm and is set to join Occitan Capital Management to develop volatility strategies within its Master Fund.

ANZ is leveraging its credit rating when marketing structured products to private banks and institutional investors in an attempt to expand its business in Asia Pacific. It comes as Moody’s Investors Service recently rated ANZ’s long term issuer rating at Aa2.

Institutional and private bank investors in Asia are increasingly looking to invest in synthetic exchange-traded funds domiciled in Europe that reference alternative strategies or assets classes other than cash and equity.

Structured products on alternative market themes are taking off in the Nordic region. Larger volumes, particularly in Sweden, are being driven by moves from the Swedish Exchange Traded Investment Products Association, and other firms and industry bodies, to provide better education and understanding of how structured products work.

Deutsche Bank is preparing to re-enter the synthetic exchange-traded fund market in Hong Kong later this year with an equity-linked deal referencing Asian indices.

Asset managers and hedge funds have been reducing their exposure to the Eurostoxx 50 index dividend futures expiring in 2012 and 2013 by selling variations of calls or rolling options to 2014 and 2015 futures. The move is being driven by growing fears over how dividends are to be taxed in the eurozone. Another issue is the potential impact of further scrip dividends issued by European institutions and what the breakup of those dividends will be over the next two years.