Derivs - FX

UBS has hired Jim Lanzilotti as head of Latin American fx and rates. He started recently in the Stamford, Conn., office and reports to Ritesh Dutta, global co-head of fixed income, currency and commodities for emerging markets.

Strategists at BNP Paribas are recommending institutional investors use an exotic over-the-counter derivative called a forward volatility agreement to take advantage of generally high volatility on the U.S. dollar/Canadian dollar currency pair.

Hedge funds have been shying away from longer-dated U.S. dollar plays due to uncertainty over whether U.S. interest rates will rise sooner than expected following the Federal Open Market Committee’s two-day meeting this week.

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority has fined Maciej Duda, president of Warsaw-based PKM Duda, PLN200,000 (USD71,000) for allegedly misinforming investors over the meat processing company’s investments in currency options.

Copenhagen-based Saxo Bank has opened an office in Amsterdam targeting retail investors.

Goldman Sachs has hired Helen Zhou in a new role selling structured investments to corporate and institutional clients in mainland China.

The European Commission is soliciting alternatives to proposed capital charges for customized trades and has reached out to various industry bodies and dealers for their thoughts.

Hedge funds and corporates have been buying one-week calls on the euro against the Swiss franc today, anticipating that the Swiss National Bank will announce its intention to continue providing liquidity to franc money markets and purchase franc-denominated bonds to keep franc appreciation in check.

Asian fund of funds manager Gen2 Partners is set to launch a fund investing in commodity trading advisors and Wesley Hu, founder and partner in Hong Kong, said it will adopt an over-the-counter overlay strategy.

BNP Paribas has hired Sean Farrell as a managing director in New York overseeing sales of short-term credit linked notes, structured notes linked to interest rates and cash bonds.

Nasir Afaf, head of fx options trading at Calyon in London, left the bank last week.

Royal Bank of Scotland has hired three of Barclays Capital’s corporate sales staffers to kick start a sales team in Korea.