Derivs - People and Markets

Mary Johannes, director of U.S. regulatory policy at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, this morning cited a 50% chance of over-the-counter derivatives legislation substantially like the Treasury Department’s proposals passing Congress before the 2010 Congressional elections.

Banco Santander is set to trade credit default swaps in Europe from its London office by the beginning of next year. Presently, the firm trades covered bonds and asset backed securities from its Madrid office.

A white paper addressing margin-related risks will be released today by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, the Managed Funds Association and the Securities Industry Financial Regulatory Authority.

Legal & General has launched its first structured product that tracks the performance of a fund, in this case the Legal & General/Investec Money Builder Fund.

Romeo Uyan, head of Asia Pacific credit trading at Barclays Capital, has left the firm.

Credit Suisse has teamed up with Macquarie Securities on an equity structure being targeted at retail buyers in Australia.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission is considering allowing dividend swaps to be sold to retail investors.

Deepali Advani, formerly a director at Barclays Capital, has joined Deutsche Bank as a director in the structured solutions group in New York.

Matthew Kerfoot, formerly a senior v.p. on HSBC Bank USA’s global structured fund products’ desk, has joined Dechert as counsel in the firm’s New York office. He will focus on advising clients on structuring and documenting equity, credit and commodity derivative transactions.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. rolled out a big offering of reverse convertible notes today—USD40 million linked to the common stock of General Electric Co. and USD17 million linked to Chesapeake Energy Corp.

Manpreet Grewal, the former head of equity index and mutual fund exotics trading at Lehman Brothers in London, has joined Morgan Stanley as a director in exotic index trading.

BNP Paribas has hired Sean Farrell as a managing director in New York overseeing sales of short-term credit linked notes, structured notes linked to interest rates and cash bonds.