Derivs - Interest Rate

Ashurst has transferred London partner Chris Whiteley to Hong Kong as the branch’s only derivatives partner, according to a memo from the firm.

Macro-hedge funds have been picking up short term put spreads on the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index over the past week, taking a view equities have been oversold during recent political and economic crises in Europe and the U.S. and are soon to bounce back.

Technology infrastructure and data management will be the key for firms in the post-reform over-the-counter derivatives market in the U.S. and Europe, according to a report.

The chances of a financial transaction tax being successfully applied would be improved if different countries jointly introduced the tax in a uniform manner, according to an International Monetary Fund report.

I often wonder who I would go back in time and visit if the opportunity ever arose and this last week I might have figured it out, well top three anyway. Einstein? Jefferson? King Arthur? No….Mr. Ben Bernanke, Nov. 21, 2002.

Plans by the Taiwan Financial Securities Commission to create a trade repository with daily reporting requirements across all assets of over-the-counter derivatives, as well as information including the names of the traders and brokers who worked on the deal, will be prohibitively expensive for the market and unworkable, market players have warned.

UBS is marketing structured coupons and total return swaps based on a new interest rate index to corporates in Europe and Asia to lower their funding costs.

Do total return swaps provide beneficial ownership of an underlying corporation?

Interest rate hedging by pension funds increased by 24% over the second quarter against the first quarter of the year, according to a quarterly survey of dealers by F&C Management.

Dariush Mirfendereski, global head of inflation-linked trading at UBS, has left the firm.

FX options market participants expect thin options activity on the back of government interventions in the Swiss franc and yen to end next week, as players pile into puts to position for a retracement in U.S. dollar/yen spot and to buy volatility in USD/CHF and other Swiss crosses.

Credit Suisse has hired Gang Hu as global head of inflation trading in London, a new position.