Derivs - Interest Rate

A thicker shroud than usual surrounds the topic of bonuses this year as the banking industry waits to see how the European regulators’ ire will play out.

A host of officials working in Barclays Capital’s fx, equity and rates teams were cut over the last few days, including some senior employees working on the firm’s derivative desks, according to market officials.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s Japan credit central counterparty working group committee has urged Japan’s Financial Services Agency that clearing members’ liability to a CCP be capped at a multiple of the guarantee fund, according to a committee draft proposal.

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership has hired Terence Nahar, head of derivatives at Royal London Asset Management in London, as an investment director within its financial solutions team.

BNP Paribas plans to hire in its equity and commodity-linked structured product group in the U.S. and Latin America by the end of the first quarter of this year, according to Fabrice Hugon, head of structured products at the firm in New York.

Standard Chartered Bank has promoted Sundeep Bhandari to global head of audit for wholesale banking from his role as head of global markets for Hong Kong and Northeast Asia according to an official at the firm.

BNP Paribas has hired Joe Abbatiello as director in sales across equity derivatives and cash for event-driven clients based in New York.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association have warned the Commodity Futures Trading Commission against failing to specifically define the anti-disruptive practices rule in connection with the swaps market under Dodd-Frank legislation. A lack of clarity over the new rules could cause some dealers to be wary of engaging in swaps market-making activity, say industry officials.

Examiners at the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve Board have started meeting to hammer out how they will approach examinations of certain systemically important clearing agencies. The SEC has also hired an associate director to oversee clearing agency exams, starting Jan. 10.

Hedge funds and dealers are likely go long volatility on two-year German interest rate swaps in the fourth quarter as the possibility of a rate hike by the European Central Bank draws closer, according to brokerage firm Newedge.

Tudor Investment Corp. wants the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to give swap users the ability to clear over-the-counter swaps on an individual segregated account basis.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has issued an interdealer master confirmation agreement covering equity options in emerging markets.