Derivs - People and Markets

Hugo Merida-Barba, head of equity trading for Asia at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in Hong Kong, has left the firm.

Australian boutique Instreet has launched Instreet Series Link 48A, a three-year structured product designed to perform in down markets with exposure to Barclays ComBATS VOLT 5.0% Excess Return Index.

Credit default spreads on Peugeot widened 50 basis points to a record 800 bps after the French automaker announced it was slashing 14,000 jobs and shutting a domestic factory.

Goldman Sachs is preparing to open a permanent investment banking office in Perth, in Western Australia, headed by Peter Watson, by Aug. 1.

JPMorgan Chase has admitted that its derivatives traders may have deliberately concealed losses, a revelation that observers said could result in criminal charges against the individuals.

BNP Paribas has appointed Jean-Yves Fillion as ceo of its North American corporate and investment banking and Dominique Remy as head of BNP Paribas Fortis Corporate and Investment Banking, among other key appointments.

Goldman Sachs, HSBC and UBS all have registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission leveraged return notes based on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, despite the recent poor performance of European equities.

Goldman Sachs is scaling back its prime brokerage business in Japan as the Toru Okabe departs as the unit’s head at the end of the month.

Threadneedle has registered six subfunds of its Threadneedle (Lux) Sicav, with at least two of them using various derivatives.

Sunrise Brokers has hired Mark Gamble as a senior salesman to focus on equity research.

A number of requirements in a proposal from the European Commission for the creation of key information documents alongside investment products have been criticized by the European Structured Investment Products Association for being overly detailed and running counter to the original intentions of the regulation.

Knight Capital Group has hired Ana Concejero, a former head of Latin America and Iberia capital markets at BlackRock, as managing director in listed derivative sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in London.