Derivs - People and Markets

The Royal Bank of Scotland is shutting is fixed-income, commodity and currency trading desk in Sydney, Australia, and is to move some of the 80-member staff to Singapore and London.

Marshall Nicholson has left his position as global head of equity markets at Bank of China International and is said to be joining rival China International Capital Corp.

State Street said the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and the New York attorney general are investigating what the firm referred to its “indirect foreign exchange execution methods.”

Marco Bach, a senior equity derivatives trader at Citigroup in London, left the firm a few weeks ago.

Market participants seeking clarity on major regulatory decisions in China may have to wait until 2013, as the government grapples with its once-in-a decade leadership transition.

Owen Brown, a portfolio manager at Brevan Howard in New York, has left the fund within the last few weeks.

Warrant Buffett told shareholders that his firm, Berkshire Hathaway, “will not be initiating any major derivatives positions” because of a change in regulations that requires the firm to post more collateral if positions move in the buyer’s favor.

Scott O’Malia, one of two Republican commissioners on the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is calling on the Office of Management and Budget to review the costs associated with new derivatives regulations in the Dodd-Frank Act.

Federal investigators is said to be scrutinizing wire transfers in and out of MF Global in the days leading up the broker-dealer’s collapse.

Troy Paredes, a Republican commissioner on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said the “excessive complexity” of the initial proposal of the Volcker Rule makes a re-proposal “the most appropriate path forward.”

BlackRock is looking to hire a new head for it iShares exchange-traded fund business in the Asia Pacific after reassigning Nick Good as head of strategy and business development for the region.

Global market marker GETCO has named Daniel Coleman ceo. Coleman, who has served as global head of equities and client services, joined the firm in 2010 from UBS, where he was head of equities businesses.