Derivs - People and Markets

A taskforce within a subcommittee of the American Bar Association is looking into mutual funds’ usage of derivatives and leverage, focusing on potential improvements in three areas: the legislative framework, disclosure requirements and board oversight.

The number of independent financial advisors in the U.K. offering structured products as their preferred investment format for retail customers has risen by 21% since December.

Konstantinos Diamantopoulos, a director in derivatives marketing at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London, has left the firm.

Credit Suisse has cut a number of Hong Kong-based equity derivatives staffers in the past week. Among those let go are Rob Hewitt, who was hired from UBS in 2007 to head Asia ex-Japan flow trading; and Albert Yuen, who covered institutional sales in Hong Kong and China.

Robert Abdel-Malak, the cfo of global securitized products at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has joined Nomura Securities in New York.

Société Générale has started aggressively marketing certificates of deposit linked to one of its proprietary indices, jumping into competition with BNP Paribas and JPMorgan.

The U.K. Financial Services Authority has struck an agreement with the U.K. Financial Ombudsman Service, an independent body that settles claims between consumers and financial firms, to defer decisions on cases relating to Lehman Brothers-backed structured products for the second time in six months.

CME Group will not be establishing a credit default swap default fund separate from the one covering futures and options, Kim Taylor, president of CME Clearing, told Derivatives Week. The move is in contrast to IntercontinentalExchange Clear Europe and Eurex, which have separate funds.

Toronto Dominion Securities plans to build up its Asia fx options business. The Canadian bank recently hired David Turner to head up fx options trading in Singapore.

Sunrise Securities, a New York-based boutique investment bank, is starting up a structured products business as part of a broader fixed-income buildout.

Cantor Fitzgerald has promoted Martin Teevan and Carmine Urciuoli to the newly created positions of co-heads of global credit, as it continues to grow its credit desk. This is the latest in a string of moves to bulk up the company’s credit operations.

Greg Miesner, a managing director at JPMorgan Private Bank, is leaving to join Morgan Stanley’s hedge fund sales team in New York. The hire is the latest in a series of senior additions to sales.