Derivs - FX

A hedge fund yesterday bought a EUR200 million put on the euro against U.S. dollar and traders said the position did not appear to be hedged in the spot market.

U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) this morning trashed industry arguments that over-regulation of the financial markets, including derivatives, could lead to the next financial crisis.

Europe is zeroing in on taxing financial transactions, with specific reference to over-the-counter derivatives.

Jony Attan, executive director and head of corporate sales for Indonesia and Malaysia at JPMorgan, has left the firm to join Morgan Stanley in a similar role.

Société Générale is planning to expand its flow fixed income and currencies sales force throughout Asia Pacific in the next two to three months.

South Korea is planning to have an automated database up and running by the middle of next month that will capture all onshore over-the-counter fx trading activity, the Financial Supervisory Service told Derivatives Week today.

Trading in exotic fx options, such as basket, knock-in and knock-out options, increased by 30% between April and Dec. 2009 and chalked up notionals of USD49 trillion—matching the notional for plain vanilla options.

A master agreement for entering into Shariah-compliant derivatives transactions is likely to be initiated in March, according to an official at Bahrain’s International Islamic Financial Market.

Kevin Lepsoe, head of structured credit for Asia Pacific at Morgan Stanley, and Sage Zaheer, the firm’s head of structured rates for the region, were recently appointed co-heads of financial institutions structuring in addition to their current roles.

Lori Courtney, a managing director and partner at search firm Sasqua Group, has left to start her own New York boutique, Artemis Consulting.

Nomura Holdings in Asia is on the lookout for managing director and v.p. level staffers in fixed income sales and trading, specifically with derivatives experience.

European Corporates have been buying short-term calls on the U.S. dollar against the yen, after Japan announced an 11% fall in machinery orders over the last year.