Derivs - People and Markets

Leith Assouad, a senior portfolio manager at Brevan Howard in Geneva, has left the firm. He specialized in equity derivatives.

The Japan Securities Clearing Corp. is looking to clear yen-denominated interest rate swaptions and could start clearing interest rate swaps denominated in other foreign currencies in 2014.

Systemically important persons that trade over-the-counter derivatives could need to register with the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission and comply with subsequent regulations should their OTC derivative position reach a certain threshold.

Market participants are expecting a smooth transition to mandatory clearing for non-financial commercial end users, or category 3 entities, in the U.S today.

Benjamin Chtromberg, head of futures and options at GMG Brokers in Dubai, has joined ICAP as a futures and options broker.

Foreign investors looking to access the offshore yuan liquidity are better served in the cross currency swap market than entering the nascent CNH HIBOR interest rate swap market, launched earlier in summer.

David Bachelier, an interest rates options trader at BNP Paribas in London, has relocated to the firm’s Singapore office.

Merrill Lynch Japan Securities, the securities arm of Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in Tokyo, has joined the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation’s over-the counter credit default swap clearinghouse.

The European Securities and Markets Authority has sent technical advice to the European Commission on the equivalence between third country legal and supervisory frameworks in respect of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation for the U.S. and Japan.

Banks will only be allowed to rehypothecate collateral set aside for initial margin once, unless collateral is collected as variation margin, according to new guidelines for non-centrally cleared derivatives from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. Firms must also calculate initial margin on a gross basis, rather than a net basis, according to the BCBS.

The Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group of the European Securities and Markets Authority has called on the regulator to improve the timing of its engagement with the financial services industry when developing level two and level three measures.

Adam Crawford, a former equity derivative trading strategist at Citigroup, has joined ANZ as the firm’s head of structuring in Hong Kong.