Derivs - Equity

Options traders need to mind skew, or the difference in implied volatility between out of the money puts and calls, driving up the cost of downside protection, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank in a 2009 volatility outlook.

Jakub Topp, previously a fund manager at hedge fund Cheyne Capital in London, will be Deutsche Bank’s new head of single stock derivatives trading, reporting to Remy Ripoll, head of index and single stocks derivatives trading in London.

Standard & Poor’s is in discussions with unnamed parties to license its newly-launched S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index to European dealers looking to use the index as an underlying for over-the-counter trades.

Deutsche Bank reportedly laid off Lee Frankenfield, director in global equity derivatives trading in New York, earlier today.

Rene Levesque, a former equity derivatives trader for RBC Capital Markets, has started Mountjoy Capital, a hedge fund research firm in Ottawa.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association is set to form a working group to revamp certain equity derivative-related definitions as a result of events that called into question what constitutes nationalization, among other things.

An executive committee meeting to be held Monday by the U.S. Structured Products Association will hash out how best to deal with an expected firestorm of government regulation on the industry, and whether it can self-regulate.

Having recorded its first negative year in more than two decades with a 26.8% loss in 2008, Richard Perry’s Perry Capital is pinning its hopes of a turnaround on its ability to benefit from defaults, capital structure arbitrage plays, and securitized products.

Staggered payment deliveries, clawback provisions and conditional payouts are fast taking center stage this bonus season and in talks about next year’s deals.

Alexander Lin, co-head of equities and head of equity derivatives and convertibles for Asia ex-Japan at Credit Suisse, has left the firm following a restructuring.

Royal Bank of Scotland will sell equity derivative retail products to affluent customers in eastern China via regional bank Bank of Ningbo.

Standard & Poor’s has fielded calls about tying structured products to the family of credit default swap indices it unveiled yesterday. Its CDS U.S. Index matches the basket of stocks in the S&P 100 equity index.