Derivs - Equity

Barclays Capital has added Jason Gans, a v.p. in sales to pensions, endowments and foundations at Goldman Sachs, to its investor solutions group in New York.

Citigroup has swooped on Morgan Stanley in London and hired Dan Petherick, managing director in equity derivatives sales to hedge funds and institutional clients. Robert Austin and Paul Lee, directors, have also been tapped and are set to join at the end of September.

London-based structured products specialist Catley Lakeman Securities is considering launching a soft protected 12% auto-call product that might be backed by Deutsche Bank paper.

Andrew Crane, ex-head of equity trading for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Citigroup, joined HSBC in London in the same role on Wednesday.

Equity strategists at Royal Bank of Scotland say it’s a good time to take advantage of high implied volatility and sell puts on three Chinese banks: China Construction Bank, ICBC and China Life Insurance.

Alessandro Dal Cin, formerly a director in equity derivative sales to hedge funds in London for Citigroup, has joined broker Newedge’s equity derivatives broking team.

A decision taken the Federal Court of Australia concerning a contractual dispute has concluded that forwards are not derivatives and therefore financial products, placing doubt as to whether they are now regulated in Australia.

Credit Suisse has hired Chris Hodgeman to head up its life finance business in Asia.

Simon Gray, an index trader for BNP Paribas has been tapped by Macqaurie to head up the Asia equity index flow desk, a volatility trading business.

TMX Group, which owns the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Montréal Exchange, intends to expand its clearing services into over-the-counter equity derivatives and other asset classes, but not credit derivatives.

Mark Green, a former director in single stock derivatives trading at Merrill Lynch in London, is understood to be joining HSBC next week in a new role.

Thomas Vergnaud, the former head of European equity derivatives single stock trading at Dresdner Kleinwort in London, who was snaffled by Merrill Lynch last month, is no longer joining the firm.