Derivs - People and Markets

Michel Barnier, the new European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, is set to hold talks with U.K. regulators and government officials March 2 on derivatives reform, financial transaction taxes and the Volcker rule.

Dirk Pruis, president of IntercontinentalExchange’s over-the-counter derivatives clearing platform ICE Trust U.S., has left and been replaced by Chris Edmonds, former ceo of International Derivatives Clearing Group.

The European Council released a report this week proposing that hedge funds in Europe disclose to regulators the leverage they employ through over-the-counter derivatives.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG entered a JPY760 million (USD8.3 million) currency forward last week to hedge ticket sales in Japan.

Stuart Kaswell, general counsel of the Managed Funds Association, has sent a letter to Neal Wolin, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, supporting legislative amendments proposed by ICE Trust and CME Group last year aimed at protecting customer collateral in the event of a counterparty default.

Sharon Bowles, chair of the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, wants to curb speculative trading of sovereign credit default swaps by enforcing position limits and other ownership restrictions, after seeing spreads gap out on Southern European sovereigns like Greece.

Josh Cohn, a partner at Allen & Overy in New York, has joined Mayer Brown as a partner and leader of the U.S. derivatives and structured products practice.

Philippe Hatstadt, head of Barclays Capital’s longevity derivatives desk in New York, has left the firm.

The U.K. Financial Services Authority and H.M. Treasury want to extend the Market Abuse Directive to cover credit default swaps.

Primus Guaranty is working on a successor to its Primus Financial Products unit that could see the parent acquire a regulated bank or insurer through which it would sell protection in the form of financial guarantee insurance.

The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined H&R Block Financial Advisors and one of its brokers today in its first enforcement action on reverse convertibles.

Charlie O’Flaherty, head of structured products for the Americas at Bank of Ireland in Stamford, Conn., left the firm two weeks ago.