Derivs - People and Markets

Royal Bank of Scotland is integrating its derivatives structuring teams into a standalone group covering all asset classes globally.

Courtney McAllister, a credit default swaps trader at BNP Paribas, has left for a position with Bank of America’s credit trading team.

Omega Capital Europe has repurchased notes from its Series 41 (Sycamore) synthetic collateralized debt obligation.

Deutsche Bank is recommending investors sell protection on Japanese mobile phone company SoftBank, despite the company telling the market April 10 it made a JPY75 billion (USD758 million) loss linked to synthetic collateralized debt obligations last year.

The British Bankers’ Association and the London Investment Banking Association have criticized the Financial Services Authority's plans to bring proprietary traders under its approved persons regime.

Mike McBain, head of global debt markets overseeing structured products for RBC Capital Markets in Toronto left the firm April 3.

Arc Capital & Income is preparing to launch an updated version of its U.K. property investment structure.

More and more over-the-counter equity options are being confirmed electronically and equity swaps next in line, according to Chip Carver, co-head of trade processing at Markit in New York.

Over-the-counter fx trading volumes grew 15% between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the end of 2008, only half the growth seen in the two years prior.

Insurers are considering entering into total return swaps instead of options to hedge annuity payout benefits.

Bankers in risk management roles are flocking to advisory firms and consultancies to build up the business there as clients have lost faith in investment banks’ ability to manage their risk.

Jim Stehli, Robert Morelli and Saro Cutri, former executives at UBS, have banded together to form Sirona Advisors, a shop to price and value collateralized debt obligations.