Derivs - People and Markets

Credit default swaps on German retailer Metro Group have tightened back to 340 basis points, down from their March 27 high of 370 bps when Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the company’s 66% stakeholder, Haniel Group. But spreads on the name are still volatile.

Andy Kimura and Michael Marriott, heads of Credit Suisse’s structured products business, have retired. Both finished up last week.

The new panel of judges presiding over the controversial knock-in knock-out currency trade case at Seoul Central District Court have asked the banks in question to disclose how they calculated premiums on the contracts

Kevin Woodruff, head of North American equity derivatives for Morgan Stanley in New York, has been appointed global head of financial engineering and will relocate to London next week to fully assume the role.

Steven Liu, a credit default swap trader specializing in banking and insurance names at Bank of America, recently joined Hexagon Securities in New York.

Interdealer broker MF Global has shuttered its credit default swap brokerage business. Among those that were reportedly cut in the past few weeks were Chris Houchins, Gibson Kinloch, Steve Luskey and Tim Moris.

Interdealer broker ICAP and fx settlement specialist CLS Group have created a joint venture to provide trade aggregation services.

Banks in Asia who use international accounting standards may have to wait at least nine months from now before any change in valuing illiquid products becomes law

BNP Paribas has seen increasing interest from retail clients in the past couple of months on products referencing its proprietary indices, because investors are comfortable with the daily liquidity offered and algorithmic strategies that are not based on discretionary trading.

The North American credit default swap market will start trading the new standardized CDS contracts Wednesday, but some are worried the industry is not adequately prepared.

Two European collateralized debt obligations backed mainly by collateralized loan obligation tranches have hit events of default, some of the first of their kind to do so.

Richard Li, a trader in Nomura’s structured credit trading group in Hong Kong, has left the firm.