Derivs - Equity

UBS has begun marketing so-called daily lookback capital protected notes that allocate investments to an emerging market equity index, cash units and a protection feature.

Equity option players have been taking short-dated bearish put spreads and bullish call spreads this week on the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index as they look for the index stay range-bound over the next few weeks, according to equity derivative strategists and traders.

Asian and U.S. firms that don’t plan to market securitized transactions to European Union credit institutions theoretically could get hit with a new E.U. law concerning risk retention if anyone buying into part of the deal enters into over-the-counter derivatives with an E.U. institution.

--Rob McGlinchey

RBS’ equity structured products group is rolling out two new indices geared towards the sale of over-the-counter equity options in the U.S. It also plans to hire two to three structured product salespeople in the next two months, according to a firm official.

A plan to increase risk weightings for banks’ exposures to central counterparties may cool down dealers who might have been keen to push clearing for clients.

Deutsche Bank will defer up to 90% of the amount of some 2010 bonuses over three years. The level would be applied to its more senior employees and those identified as senior risk takers, and set the firm apart from rivals, who are deferring less.

Werner Langen, European Member of Parliament, has removed reporting requirements for non-financial corporates and also delayed the implementation of clearing for them.

The European Securities and Markets Authority is expanding its derivatives, credit rating agency and asset management expertise, and has today begun hiring for its Markets and Intermediaries Division.

RP Capital, the alternative investment firm founded by Rafael Berber, the ex-global head of Merrill Lynch’s equity-linked product group, is to launch a UCITS emerging markets fund.

Werner Langen’s amendments to the European Commission's legislative proposal on how to achieve an efficient, safe and sound derivatives market in Europe, have just been released in German. Click through to view the paper in full.

EFG Financial Products has issued the first structured certificates linked to an index which ranks and calculates the economic freedom of 183 countries by using the theories expressed by philosopher and economist Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations.