Search results for

Word reaches me that Zeeshan Khan is leaving Bank of America/Merrill Lynch to take up the role of head of e-commerce at Standard Chartered, which is continuing its hiring spree. However, according to BofA/Merrill, Khan hasn’t actually resigned yet, although I guess he will be doing so soon. Or perhaps he won’t.

The same facts today are being interpreted in opposing directions; the usual “optimism vs. pessimism” is more extreme than ever. Today we define our own optimism and its inherent caution.

PMA is hoping to recover from its reserve deficit within 15 years by adjusting its annual indexation and altering its asset allocation strategy, IPE reports. It will increase its fixed income allocation by 3% to 33% over the next two years, and cut its equity investments by 5% to 45%.

Brazilian billionaire Andre Esteves has bought back much more than he sold just three years ago. His BTG-Pactual combination makes him one of the key players in Latin America’s largest market, and leaves UBS nowhere. Esteves outlines his ambitions to Chloe Hayward.

--Jeanine Prezioso

Will the market really adopt a CCP?

Another event I missed while I was away was the departure of Ben Welsh from UniCredit. Welsh was hired back in September 2007 at a time when hopes were high that UniCredit, a conglomerate formed by the merger of around 20 different financial institutions, would be able to meld these together and capitalise on what it described as its size and distribution network. However, the world has now changed and talk is that the bank is retreating back to its roots in the Italian regions. What this means for all the constituent parts elsewhere remains unclear, but it has created a tough working environment for all those who bought into the dream.

This time last year, I sent a simple question to many of the market’s most senior figures: Has the perception of the FX business changed in your institution? Most of the answers I got were not very informative. But that has not deterred me from asking it again this year for the 2009 FX poll.

I was sent a piece of research from MSCI Barra this week called Currency hedging: A free lunch? This immediately reminded me of the mantra one of my old brokers repeated whenever I met him for lunch: “No biz, no fizz.” In other words, as we all know and as I used to say, you don’t get nuffing for nuffing. The report is well researched but ultimately somewhat simplistic. So much so, that I was moved to ask if it should be subtitled: Stating the bleeding obvious. In effect, it says that if you hedge, you might increase your risk and might not make as much money as if you didn’t.

While I can accept being out of the loop last week while I was away, I am fuming that I missed what looks like a really interesting story back in February.

Sadly, Bert Suer, who had the unenviable task of being my boss at Nomura back in the early 1990s, passed away after a long illness on April 2. Although we seldom saw eye to eye, Bert was a true gentleman who had many loyal friends in the FX market. I’ll never forget how he once apologised to me after I had spent most of a Christmas party pelting him with food. Recognising that I was in one of my more obnoxious moods, Bert got up and left. His reverse bollocking the next day had the desired effect and made me feel very silly indeed. A memorial service is being held on April 22 at St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Plaistow Lane, Bromley.

When it was known as the Honda Racing F1 Team, it couldn’t even win a raffle. However, now that it has been relaunched as Brawn GP – with the same drivers, same backroom staff and management – the team is setting the pace in Formula One. Inevitably, this initial success has attracted a crowd of media-hungry players.