Derivs - People and Markets

A warm March has sent RenaissanceRe’s weather and energy derivatives to its second consecutive quarterly loss, with the firm’s chief underwriting officer calling it “the temperature equivalent of a catastrophe.”

A threatened two-notch downgrade of Goldman Sachs could trigger provisions in derivatives contracts that would require the investment bank to post an additional USD2.21 billion in collateral or pay to terminate the contracts.

Gleacher has strengthened its investment-grade credit group with the hiring of fixed-income professionals Thomas Giardi, David Nixon and William Pope.

NYSE Liffe has signed up GF Futures Hong Kong as its first collocation customer in from Asia.

Market Vectors ETF Trust has launched the Emerging Markets High Yield Bond ETF, which the firm said will focus solely on U.S.-dollar denominated non-sovereign segment of that market.

Morgan Stanley is said to be considering possible moves involving derivatives under the threat of a possible two-notch rating downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service.

UBS has named Peter Baccile as global co-head of real estate, leisure and lodging with Jackson Hsieh.

Ayad Butt, an ex-G10 fx derivative trader at Credit Suisse in Singapore, is set to join Citigroup in a similar role.

JP Morgan Chase has been hit by $2 billion in trading losses and could face an additional $1 billion loss, Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in a conference call after U.S. markets closed today.

Department of Labor rules regarding prohibited transactions and fiduciary obligations will make it tough for swap dealers to clear over-the-counter swaps for pension plans under Dodd-Frank if guidance or exemptions are not provided. Implementation is slated for November and DoL often acts with glacial speed, which has the industry very concerned.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has delayed a vote on the so-called Core Principle 9, which would require designated contract markets to delist any futures or swap contract that is unable to maintain a trading volume of 85% on the DCM's centralized market based on the prior 12-month period.

Steve Baker, a senior risk specialist at the U.K. Financial Services Authority, has hinted that the FSA may tweak regulations due to go into effect in 2014 that require firms to hold a 5% stake in collateralized loan obligations, but warned that CLO measures are not a high priority for the agency.