Derivs - People and Markets

A group of buysiders and sellsiders is working on documentation to allow users to clear over-the-counter derivatives through dealer members of CME Clearing.

Some industry officials believe a last-minute amendment to the House Agriculture Committee derivatives bill allowing trading through so-called ‘confirmation facilities’ may give dealers the freedom to trade as they do currently.

Norway’s Eksportfinans and Swedish Export Credit Corp. have been picking up business over the last few months issuing structured notes on behalf of banks.

Central and Eastern European exchanges are promising to slash costs and offer new services to over-the-counter users in a bid to attract more trades onto exchange.

Regulators and industry officials in Poland are urging firms to set up a regional clearing house for over-the-counter credit, equity and currency derivatives in Central and Eastern Europe.

Standard Chartered is planning to expand in structured fx- and credit-linked notes across Europe and Asia and recently hired Per Nordstrom and Michael Amorgianos to lead the effort.

Sean Sanders, a Latin American fx options trader formerly with Bank of America, has landed at Tullett Prebon in New York brokering G10 vanilla and exotic options.

Vuk Bulajic, head of U.S. equity derivatives at Natixis, has joined institutional broker-dealer Ticonderoga Securities to launch an equity derivatives desk in New York.

Currency derivatives players’ appetite for more exotic trades has been picking up over the last two months, according to P.K. Sinha, director in rates and fx structuring at BNP Paribas in New York.

Won Choi, head of European credit sales at London-based boutique StormHarbour Partners, has left the firm 16 days after joining to work for hedge fund manager Lucidus Capital Partners.

Lehman Brothers has hired Jean-François Dreyfus, the former head of credit correlation and volatility trading at Credit Suisse in New York.

RBC Capital Markets today issued USD7.8 million in principal-protected notes linked to a Société Générale proprietary commodity index.