Derivs - People and Markets

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s decision to hold public hearings to consider position limits in electricity, oil and natural gas trading is being tagged by some industry players as political posturing.

The U.S. National Conference of Insurance Legislators was due to vote last Thursday on model legislation that could have banned naked credit default swaps—swaps where the buyer does not own the underlying bonds or loans. But after two hours of testimony and debate, the vote was deferred until NCOIL’s annual meeting in November, Susan Nolan, executive director, told Derivatives Week.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is calling on Congress to discourage the use of customized over-the-counter derivatives through conservative capital requirements and to require full pricing transparency. In a hearing this morning before the House Agriculture and Financial Service committees, he said rules were needed to “encourage substantially greater use of standardized OTC derivatives.”

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is slated to update the House Agricultural Committee and House Financial Services Committee this morning on over-the-counter derivatives regulation. You can watch the hearing from 10am EST here

Luke Newman-Taylor, a director in equity derivatives trading at Barclays Capital in London, left the firm last week and is reportedly set to rejoin UBS.

U.K. advisory and investment banking boutiques have put out search requests for credit derivative experts in large numbers following a rush by bankers to set up their own firms in recent months.

UBS has lost a handful of fixed income sales staffers from its Hong Kong office within the last week.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. has recouped USD5.8 billion from derivatives contracts since filing for Chapter 11 in September and expects to collect a further USD5 billion on outstanding derivatives. The tally was revealed yesterday in an out-of-court session yesterday.

Robert Gregorio, a managing director in equity derivatives sales at Hapoalim Securities in New York, recently left to join FTN Equity Capital Markets.

Tom Gillie, a senior fx options trader at Credit Suisse in Singapore, left the firm last week and is expected to resurface at an options trading desk in New York.

Banco Espírito Santo de Investimento, the investment banking arm of Portugal’s Banco Espírito Santo, has hired a head of credit trading in the Americas and is looking for a senior fx hire to round out its Latin American derivatives coverage in the region.

Mark Mallia, head of flow credit business for Asia Pacific at BNP Paribas, has reportedly left after one day at the office.