Derivs - People and Markets

Roger Naylor and Robert Karofsky will become co-heads of UBS’s global equities business starting in 2015, and replacing Mike Stewart, who has been moved to the Swiss bank’s wealth management division.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) said on September 19 that it was introducing FX futures contracts for Chinese onshore and offshore renminbi, Japanese Yen and Thai Baht, starting from October 20. The exchange also said Bank of China (BOC) would be the first market maker for its RMB futures and SGX’s first Chinese settlement bank for its derivatives market.

US investors aiming to play the eurozone recovery are increasingly looking at the Eurostoxx50 via structured products with so-called airbag features that provide a buffer against depreciation.

The FX non-deliverable forward market could fragment further after the introduction of mandatory clearing in the US, opening up the asset class to swap execution facility trading.

LCH.Clearnet’s global interest rate swap clearing platform, SwapClear, has launched a new blended compression service in response to a growing need for more efficient use of capital and reduced operational risk.

ForexClear, LCH.Clearnet’s fx clearing service, has expanded its range of clearable currencies to include the Peruvian nuevo sol in response to both member and client demand.

Credit Suisse plans to add algorithmic trading to its newly launched swap execution facility aggregation service, as it further develops it for interest rates swaps.

Invoice spreads, typically interest rate swaps against futures contracts, could bit hit by a decline in liquidity when the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s next swap execution facility package trade exemption expires in November.

Swap execution facility TeraExchange has launched the first regulated platform for bitcoin derivatives and a spot bitcoin price index in response to growing demand from global merchants, payment processors, miners and hedge funds for an efficient hedging tool.

Front month CBOE Volatility Index futures may experience a 1 vol point increase from -0.33 to 0.66 pts on Monday roll dates relative to historics, due to recent changes made to the indices methodology, closing off a strategy systematic volatility traders have been using to capitalise on the weekly “seasonality” effects of the roll.

Morgan Stanley is in the final development stages of its swap execution facility agency service and should launch the platform in the coming months.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange is in talks with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority regarding an agreement for FINRA to provide certain regulatory services to the CBOE and C2 options markets.