Derivs - People and Markets

Some equity default swap contracts on Citigroup may be triggered if its stock price falls now that the company has been removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Eddy Wymeersch, chairman of the Committee of European Securities Regulators, called for greater transparency and more disclosure in over-the-counter derivatives this week at the Global ABS summit in London.

Indonesia’s banking and securities regulators are aiming to halt sales of derivatives to the retail market.

Chicago Trading Co., a private proprietary trading firm and liquidity provider on U.S. derivatives exchanges, has hired Michael Kamal, an over-the-counter derivatives quantitative specialist formerly with Merrill Lynch.

Boaz Weinstein, the former head of Deutsche Bank’s proprietary trading group Saba, has raised USD160 million for his new fund in five weeks.

Blue Sky Asset Management has chosen Rabobank as the counterparty for its newly launched income and growth plans, the FTSE-linked High Income Corridor Plan II and Capital Accumulator Defensive Plan IV.

Credit default swap dealers and clearinghouse representatives from across Europe are scheduled to meet with Charlie McCreevy, European Commissioner for internal market and services, in Brussels tomorrow.

New York-based advisory Dynamic Credit Partners will open up its first European office later this month. Tonko Gast, cio and co-founding partner, will move from the asset manager’s Big Apple headquarters to Amsterdam to head the new outpost.

Grupo Santander has hired Hedi Zebidi, a former director in flow credit distribution at Lehman Brothers in Paris, as a director in Madrid.

Structured product sales into the Australian retail market have fallen as much as 80% compared to this time last year, according to some market participants.

Barclays Capital was reportedly buying volatility on the euro/dollar against the dollar/krona earlier today following announcements by Sveriges Riksbank, Sweden’s Central Bank, forecasting loan losses for the country’s banks of up to USD22.8 billion.

Credit default swaps on American International Group pulled in to 22 points upfront this afternoon, according to broker Phoenix Partners—14 points tighter than yesterday.