Derivs - Equity

China’s securities regulator is preparing to launch a new over-the-counter equity market despite the fact the government has yet to approve it.

MICEX-RTS, the Russian derivatives exchange, is going to build its derivative platform in the hopes of increasing efficiencies and enticing U.S. trading to the market, said Evgeniy Serdyukov, head of the derivatives market at the exchange in Moscow.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Paul Baron, former head of synthetic equity sales for the Americas at Deutsche Bank in New York, for a similar role in London.

Lionel Crassier, head of equities for the Americas at BNP Paribas, has been replaced by Chris Innes, former head of equity flow and financing sales for the Americas in New York.

Deutsche Bank has hired Zahid Biviji as a managing director in U.S. index derivative flow trading in New York, rounding out a recent spate of hirings in the equity derivatives space by the firm.

Stanley Rowe, managing director and head of Latin American equities at Barclays Capital in New York, has left the firm and is on gardening leave until June.

The amount of volatility risk being traded daily in Apple options is regularly exceeding volatility traded on the S&P 500 exchange-traded fund. Implied volatility has subsequently been rising in tandem with the stock itself, with both factors signaling to some a possible break in the rise of either stock or volatility levels.

Proposed regulations from the U.S. Treasury to eliminate avoiding U.S. taxes on dividend payments by engaging in offshore total return swaps cast too a wide a net, according to industry watchers.

Many U.S. hedge funds didn’t pull the trigger Tuesday on attractive entry points for long dispersion trades in U.S. equity indices and stocks, and may have missed the boat after equities rallied on Wednesday and implied correlation subsequently erased its 1.5% gain that day.

Barclays has introduced a structured-products service that allows financial advisers to customize the instruments to suit clients’ needs.

Sales of equity funds in Europe surged 50% in February to EUR19.5 billion ($25.57 billion) from the preceding month, including a record EUR6.5 billion ($8.52 billion) in high-yield bond funds, according to Lipper.

UBS has launched an index that gives institutional investors exposure to strong dividend paying companies.