Derivs - People and Markets

Increasing flows of credit default swaps in Korea, driven largely by the uptick of credit-linked notes sold in the country, has prompted rating agency Fitch Solutions to introduce a pricing service for Korean CDS.

Currency options traders are expecting a slew of long-term put options on cable to hit the market next week following an E.U. vote on the controversial Alternative Investment Fund Management directive, which industry officials say could drive hedge funds out of the U.K. and hurt the country’s tax revenues.

A crop of hedge funds setting up shop in Hong Kong specifically to invest in Chinese stock through the use of over-the-counter derivatives are being squeezed by the quotas placed on foreign investors by the Chinese authorities.

JPMorgan is planning to list callable bull/bear contracts on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange next month.

Since retail structured products must already be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, they will be largely unaffected by pending derivatives legislation, experts say. But if firms are forced to clear their internal hedges for those structures, investors could face higher costs.

David Ruder, former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman and a key panelist on the newly formed SEC/Commodity Futures Trading Commission committee on harmonizing emerging regulations, wants to see more transparency, but without forcing the derivatives business offshore.

F&C Asset Management’s Sapphire Fund is looking into buying three-month ratio put spreads on the S&P 500 that would generate a profit should the volatility of the index fall, irrespective of where it finishes at expiry.

Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking has hired George Skelton as a director in its cross-asset solutions group selling structured credit products to institutional accounts.

Hugh Murray, head of Asia equity derivatives trading for Nomura in Hong Kong, left three weeks ago for reasons that could not be determined.

A recent decision by a Hong Kong court to dismiss a challenge on regulatory decision making relating to banks repurchasing Lehman Brothers’ minibonds in 2009 has frustrated lawyers who were keen to see more clarity on the matter.

Sens. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) introduced a little-noticed amendment last Tuesday on the Senate floor that would tighten the screws on Wall Street derivatives dealers by changing the recently amended definition of a swap execution facility back to its original, stricter form.

Macquarie Securities Group has hired Todd Steinberg as global head of delta one in New York.