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Depth in research and execution and strength in structuring globally in vanilla and exotic products across all asset classes set UBS apart from its competitors in the retail and institutional structured product market over the last year. That, and its development of electronic trading platforms, helped the firm land the 2012 Structured Products House of the Year award from the editors of Derivatives Week/Derivatives Intelligence.

The UK’s latest scheme to stimulate the economy, Funding for Lending, has been greeted with an almost audible weary sigh from the market. It should reduce loan funding costs appreciably, which can only help the economy. Whether it unlocks loans for borrowers who can’t get them already is much less certain.

Allowing Scotland to issue its own debt is at best a waste of time. At worst, it could also be costly.

China Fishery is hitting the road this week to test demand for a bond, readying the first Asian high yield deal in more than two months. But investors are too jittery to absorb a spree of high yield issues. It is juicy structures, not juicy credits, that bankers should be emphasising.

Aircraft Pfandbriefe raise uncomfortable questions about what is a covered bond. In doing so, they risk jeopardising the regulatory esteem in which the asset class is held.

—Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, on the completion of the definition of a “swap,” which sets in motion a torrent of rules to which swap dealers and major swap participants must comply.

Stephane Carty and Michael Paterson, both from Wachovia in London, launched volatility fund Fir Post Capital.

To say the markets over the last 12 months have endured periods of heightened volatility would be an understatement. Buysiders, as a result, sharpened their awareness and upped capital allocation to volatility products, whether through exchange-traded notes, exchange-traded funds, or bespoke indices linked to the VIX. Those buyers, including asset managers and pension funds, tagged Nomura as ahead of the competition for its innovation in volatility themed strategies, indices, funds and products. That helped the firm land the 2012 Volatility House of the Year award from the editors of Derivatives Week/Derivatives Intelligence.

The Republic of the Philippines is on a roll. The country on its way up the rating curve, it has already had big success in the dollar market this year, and it is trading at an eye-popping discount to some European countries. The sovereign should waste no time taking advantage of this rosy situation. It will not last forever.

After Libor fiddling and swap mis-selling, many are saying investment banks have no place in the commercial banks’ state-protected tent. The middle of a government debt crisis is not the best time to re-open this debate. But sooner or later, the ghosts will have to be faced.

Steadily but surely, Ireland is building confidence in its debt issuance once again. Last week’s sale of treasury bills — the country’s first since its EU bail-out in 2010 — was a cautious but impressive step towards returning to the benchmark market. The team at the National Treasury Management Agency should be congratulated for providing a rare ray of light in the European periphery sovereign debt gloom.

HSBC has been at the forefront of both developed and emerging fx market over the last year, particularly through driving the development and growth of the offshore renminbi market. It was behind the first CNH spot transaction and the first CNH option as well as getting more esoteric with the first structured note linked to CNH. These were the key factors in the firm landing the 2012 FX Derivatives House Of The Year award from the editors of Derivatives Week/Derivatives Intelligence.