Derivs - FX

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria’s plan to expand its fx and interest rate derivative business with two new offices in Australia and Taiwan are to be delayed as the firm faces staffing cuts.

Standard Chartered strategists are advising investors to buy a one-week at-the-money U.S. dollar/ Korean won forward straddle at 1.5%, with an implied volatility price of 13.5% and a strike of 1159.

UBS has launched a 90% capital protected structured note linked to a managed futures trading strategy that also features a lookback mechanism, the first structure of its kind publicly offered in Switzerland.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is preparing to unveil legislation in the next few weeks that will contain rules for mandatory clearing and reporting of standardized over-the-counter derivatives, according to lawyers in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Nick Brown, an equity exchange-traded fund options trader who previously was at Citigroup for seven years, has joined BNP Paribas in New York.

Asian hedge funds and corporates have pocketed 2% yield on U.S. dollar and Chinese yuan forward and non-deliverable forward trades due to spreads tightening between the offshore and onshore yuan market.

Credit Suisse is shutting down its fixed-income operations in Taiwan, but will continue to offer brokerage services.

HSBC has let go three fx sales people in London and New York as part of its effort to lower costs.

PIMCO has hired Riccardo Rebonato as executive v.p. and head of rates and fx analytics, effective Dec. 1.

End users are asking dealers about quoting options on a new Greek currency and legal teams are discussing adding language to FX option contracts to prepare for the possibility that Greece could leave the euro.

Investors should buy two month dual digital options on the euro/Australian dollar and euro versus the yen in a bid to catch a drop in correlation between the pairs and position for the view the AUD is primed to weaken, say strategists at Société Générale.

European investors are moving away from derivative-backed exchange traded funds, showing a greater preference for physically-backed ETFs, according to strategists at BlackRock.