Derivs - People and Markets

Jason Richardson, head of fx options at Royal Bank of Scotland in Stamford, Conn., has been promoted to head of emerging markets trading across all asset classes.

Roland Jeurissen, a senior fx options trader at BNP Paribas in London, has left to join Citigroup in a new role.

Dresdner Kleinwort has lost a series of London-based fx options traders in recent weeks.

UBS has been the leading issuer of callable bull/bear contracts in Hong Kong since the contracts first launched in June 2006 through to May this year.

Better-than-expected quarterly earnings from American International Group on Friday have some investors selling off their CDS positions on the name, while others cling on should spreads gap out again. “There isn’t a consensus view,” said one New York trader.

Iceland’s Special Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed it is investigating Kaupthing Bank over potential abuses relating to credit default swap transactions. Ólafur Hauksson, head of the office in Reykvaik, told Derivatives Week the case was sent from Iceland’s Financial Supervisory Authority but that the agency “only recently got it” so there is very little information he could share.

Life settlements specialist, Coventry, is looking to tap Asian institutional investors in mortality risk. The U.S. headquartered firm, which recently established a base in Hong Kong, is looking to open additional satellite offices in Japan and Australia to build up its presence.

Brazil’s equivalent of the U.S. Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is working on a voluntary set of best practices and professional codes of conduct to address the suitability of over-the-counter derivatives for different users.

Tiden Capital, a Durham, N.C.-based hedge fund focusing on relative value in corporate structured credit, has improved the liquidity terms for its Tiden Core Fund.

HSBC and JPMorgan issued identical auto-call knock-out notes Wednesday, reportedly for JPMorgan Private Bank. The combined USD132 million offering was also one of the largest structured products registered in months.

Defendants in a case concerning the order of payments in a Lehman Brothers International (Europe) collateralized debt obligation, Dante, have sought and been granted permission to appeal a U.K. High Court ruling.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission plans to tighten up disclosure rules for providers of over-the-counter derivatives, such as contracts for difference, to retail investors.