Derivs - People and Markets

South Korea’s plan to introduce a derivatives transaction tax in 2014 could hurt volumes and liquidity in the KOSPI 200 futures and options market, and will face stiff opposition from the market.

Hong Kong structured product volumes could see an uptick prior to the Chinese government’s third plenary session to be held in October, which is expected to herald a number of major reforms to the nation’s economy.

Bloomberg has added a derivatives margin calculator developed by LCH.Clearnet. The Swapclear margin approximation risk tool – or SMART–allows Bloomberg clients to work out the capital funding requirements needed to comply with Dodd Frank regulations.

Banks should use clearing and compression to shield uncleared derivatives from the impact of a supplementary 6% leverage ratio proposed by U.S. regulators, according to strategists at Barclays in New York.

Bloomberg has received temporary registration approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to operate a multi-asset class swap execution facility.

Tier two firms have seen an increase in clearing services for over-the-counter derivatives since phase two of the Dodd-Frank rollout started on June 10 as asset managers look to diversify their clearing portfolios out of tier one shops.

StoneHedge Partners, the London-based agency brokerage and advisory firm founded by Makram Fares, the ex-co-head of European equity sales and equity derivatives at Nomura, has received regulatory approval from the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority.

State Street has joined the ranks of applicants to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to become a multi-asset swap execution facility under Dodd-Frank, less than a week before the final SEF rules become effective.

A new master agreement governing domestic over the counter derivatives transactions has been finalized in France.

Lee McQueen, a former director of equity sales trading at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong, has joined BNP Paribas.

Bank Indonesia plans to regularly hold fx swap auctions in a bid to ensure investors there have greater access to fx swaps as hedging tools as more investment capital enters the country.

Sascha Prinz, managing director of U.S. swaps and treasuries trading, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, has left the firm.