Derivs - People and Markets

Easing liquidity conditions supported offers in the very short end of the CNY swap curve on Monday. This drove some disinversion momentum in the 1s/2s NDIRS curve slope that sources expect to continue, writes Deirdre Yeung of Total Derivatives.

Germany is set to become the first eurozone sovereign to settle its derivative transactions via central clearing, after announcing plans on Monday to become a direct clearing member of EurexOTC Clear.

In the confusing world of China’s investor access programmes, one thing regulators have made clear is that hedge funds are not welcome. The launch of the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect gave the industry access the mainland markets, but the recent stock market trouble has seen regulators take a much harder stance.

Daiwa Capital Markets has hired a former head of sterling credit trading from Lloyds in a bid to increase the Japanese group’s presence in the currency.

Veteran credit strategist Suki Mann is back in the inboxes of investors and traders, after setting up a website called Credit Market Daily that he hopes will bring corporate bonds to a wider audience.

Individual initiatives by China in the commodity space, such as the July launches in Shanghai of a Gold Connect scheme and a new oil and natural gas exchange, may be gaining little traction right off the bat, but they are pieces in a broader strategy devised by the world's largest consumer of commodities. An upcoming oil futures contract, in particular, could see that plan make a leap forward.

Law firm Reed Smith has hired an experienced lawyer from Latham & Watkins to its global energy and natural resources group in Washington.

Barclays has promoted Alex Aram to head of credit trading for Asia Pacific and has added two new hires to the region’s credit team.

Numen Capital, a London based credit manager, has hired an experienced trader to its team as a portfolio manager and research analyst.

In the third systems failure in three months, derivatives trading on the primary Russian exchange Moskovskaya Birzha (MOEX) was halted for half an hour on Wednesday before service resumed.

It has been a busy week for Markit’s expansion plans, with the company agreeing to buy CoreOne Technologies and launching an FX trade confirmation service.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has called for an overhaul of regulations which are hurting market liquidity, as part of a major new report on the state of liquidity in financial markets, commissioned by the Global Financial Markets Association and the Institute for International Finance.