Derivs - People and Markets

Over-the-counter trade processing specialist TriOptima is set to open an office in Tokyo.

Over-the-counter trade processing specialist TriOptima is set to open an office in Tokyo.

Syncora Guarantee has become the first monoline to cease payments under credit default swap contracts and other claims after a New York State Insurance Department section 1310 order forced it to suspend payments as of yesterday.

A New York hedge fund is buying call spreads on currency baskets that play commodities and emerging market currencies appreciating against the U.S. dollar, yen and British pound.

Diwan Capital, a boutique investment bank in Dubai, is preparing to launch a derivatives business for over-the-counter and listed trades within the next two months.

Law firm Clifford Chance has opened up a derivatives practice in Singapore with the relocation of Lena Ng, a consultant from the firm’s Hong Kong office.

Griffin Capital Management is merging its Western European long/short equity fund into a UCITS III fund focused on the same region.

Karen Reynolds, an equity derivatives marketer to private bank clients at JPMorgan has left.

Deutsche Bank has made a round of cuts to its equity derivatives trading team in Asia, with approximately five traders made redundant two weeks ago, say people with knowledge of the matter.

The founders of Tacticus Opportunity Fund, a new long/short credit fund focusing on dislocations in the asset-backed securities market, are launching another fund using the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

New York advisory firm and asset manager NewOak Capital has hired Alejandro Videla as managing director with responsibility for restructuring and managing collateralized debt obligations, CDOs squared and collateralized synthetic obligations.

A large U.S. bank bought a Dec.’09 swap on the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries index this week and took an immediate hit on the trade. A large U.K. bank took the other side of the swap on the NCREIF index.