Derivs - People and Markets

Standard Chartered has hired James deCastro as its head of Asia equity derivatives trading, a new role for the bank.

Morgan Stanley’s Asia investment banking division saw 2008 bonuses around 60% lower than the year before, with senior staffers down more than junior ones, said insiders.

Sean Juneja, head of structured products at interdealer broker BGC Partners, is moving to New York from London in a bid to expand the unit.

Credit default swap spreads on Citigroup had blown out to 410 basis points by midday Wednesday as the rumor mill went into overdrive about the firm’s plans to reorganize and shed assets.

Commerzbank is reportedly set to cut 25-40% of the Dresdner Bank equity derivatives team, currently about 100 strong, after its purchase is formally completed in March.

New York executive search and capital placement specialist Broadreach Group is looking to hire a senior recruiter who can cover multi-asset class derivative and prime brokerage searches, in a bid to get back into business with the sell-side.

RBC Capital Markets has structured two new notes, each with a 20% downside cap on principal loss, seeing investor interest in ways to capitalize on what could be a near bottoming out in the equity markets.

Credit Suisse is working on a structured sale of carbon emission credits for an unidentified client that it hopes to wrap by year-end.

Standard Chartered has tapped Mohammed Grimeh for the newly created role of head of trading and deputy head of global markets for the Americas.

Collateralized loan obligation expert Joe Moroney has resurfaced at Apollo Management.

U.K. retail house NDF Administration has introduced a kick-out structure linked to the performance of the FTSE 100.

Nicholas Ross, co-head of the capital markets team at UBS in Japan, has reportedly retired.