Derivs - People and Markets

BlackRock is said to have hired Edward Cook to head syndication for its new capital markets team in London. Cook most recently ran European equity syndication at UBS.

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange has named Gary Anderson to succeed Stephen Gaterell as ceo.

Morgan Stanley is said to have named Gabriel Butler as head of electronic trading for Asia ex Japan.

Memphis-based Wunderlich Securities has hired six equity capital markets professionals from Morgan Keegan, including Brent Rakers, senior v.p. and research analysts.

Julien Petit-Pasquier, the ex-head of index trading at Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong, is set to join Barclays Capital as a director in equity index trading.

Deutsche Bank has hired Bradley Kurtzman, the head of U.S. equity derivative trading at Citigroup in New York, in a senior role in the firm’s equity derivative group.

Credit Suisse said that it purchased credit default swaps on derivatives it used as part of bonuses for more than 5,500 employees last year.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was at times excessive in proposing regulations for swap execution facilities.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has published a white paper on best practices for over-the-counter commodity derivatives trade processing.

The CBOE Futures Exchange has teamed up with DRW Trading Group, a Chicago-based proprietary-trading firm, to create variance futures based on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index..

Dallas-based Capital Institutional Services has launched a futures trading desk as part of its derivatives trading business.

Credit Suisse reported that profits plunged 96% in the first quarter to CHF44 million (USD48.17 million) from CHF1.1 billion a year earlier, thanks in part to a charge on the value on its debt and scaling back of its investment-banking business.