Derivs - People and Markets

Daiwa Capital Markets has reportedly hired Christopher Johnson to head up the firm’s Asian synthetic prime brokerage business, a newly created role.

Newedge Group is relocating a team of three over-the-counter equity derivatives brokers to Hong Kong from Tokyo to cover interbank Nikkei options.

JPMorgan has reportedly decided to pick up its employees’ tab for the U.K. personal bonus tax--a move that will shrink its 2009 global bonus pool about 13% from what it would have been.

Guy Cornelius, head of fixed income at boutique Evolution Securities in London, has left the firm.

ING has begun marketing five-year notes that offer a potential 35% return depending on the performance of the EURO STOXX 50.

Kevin Lepsoe, head of structured credit for Asia Pacific at Morgan Stanley, and Sage Zaheer, the firm’s head of structured rates for the region, were recently appointed co-heads of financial institutions structuring in addition to their current roles.

JPMorgan’s private bank shook up the U.S. retail structured products market this week, buying up a total of USD346 million in notes issued by five other banks.

Lori Courtney, a managing director and partner at search firm Sasqua Group, has left to start her own New York boutique, Artemis Consulting.

Structured product issuers have been selling volatility on names including Nestle, Roche and Credit Suisse over the last week.

Nomura Holdings in Asia is on the lookout for managing director and v.p. level staffers in fixed income sales and trading, specifically with derivatives experience.

Bloomberg has launched a facility that links the buyside and the sellside of the credit default swaps market with ICE U.S. Trust and CME Clearing in one portal.

Metavante Corp., a swap counterparty to Lehman Brothers that was ordered to pay the estate in a closely watched court case in September, filed an appeal in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York last week.