Derivs - People and Markets

Henry Hu, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new division overseeing risk, strategy and financial innovation, told Derivatives Week he has been working closely with other SEC units, such as enforcement, and that he is deepening the unit’s bench of experts to stay on top of new structures. The interview, by Managing Editor Katy Burne, also features Adam Glass, the division’s co-chief counsel.

BNP Paribas has added Vasilis Koutsaftis from JPMorgan as a director in its fx and interest rates structuring group in New York.

David Ezra, a senior credit salesman formerly with Goldman Sachs who joined London brokerage Mint Partners last month (DW, 3/11), has left and is reportedly set to join Credit Suisse in a new role.

Matthew Wong, head of equity derivatives and private investor product sales for Asia at Royal Bank of Scotland, is moving from Hong Kong to the firm’s London headquarters to become its global head of listed derivatives distribution.

Hotly anticipated over-the-counter derivatives legislation from Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) has just been released, and judging by the commercial end-user exemption to an otherwise mandatory clearing requirement, it looks as if end-user lobbyists had an impact in the final hours before its release.

Five-year credit default swap spreads on major investment banks gapped out dramatically today after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accused Goldman Sachs of securities fraud.

Sabrina Schittone, a senior structured credit saleswoman formerly with CIBC World Markets in London, has joined brokerage firm Yorvik Partners.

KBC Financial Products, part of Belgium’s KBC Group, is selling its Hong Kong warrants and global convertible bond business and winding down the rest of its Asian operations.

The newly formed Swaps and Derivatives Markets Association, which is lobbying for equal access to central counterparty clearing platforms where bulge-bracket dealers have a virtual monopoly, were in Washington, D.C., this week making their case to legislators.

Derivatives officials say the idea being floated in some circles of spinning off swaps desks isn’t feasible and jars with other expected provisions of the forthcoming Senate Agriculture Committee bill.

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s proposals for regulating the over-the-counter derivatives market, which Chairman Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) said would be released today, will now come out Friday at the earliest because the legislative language is not yet finished, according to a Committee spokeswoman.

The European Commission is considering giving national regulators the power to slash payments due to creditors of major financial institutions deemed at risk of failure, two weeks after politicians pledged their support for the idea (DW, 3/31).