LCH signs up first Italian member to CDSClear
Banca IMI, the investment bank of Intesa Sanpaolo, has signed up as the first Italian member of CDSClear at LCH SA, the French clearing unit of London Stock Exchange-owned LCH Group

Deutsche and Commerzbank CDS provisions amended as German protocol hits delay
The Determinations Committee has amended its statement on the seniority of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank obligations following a delay to implementation of a German bank CDS protocol

Oak Hill reshuffles leadership in Europe
Oak Hill Advisors has appointed three long-serving members of its investment and business development teams to lead the European office

Esma amends recognitions for UK CCPs in event of no-deal Brexit
The European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) will continue to recognise three UK-based central counterparties (CCPs) and the UK Central Securities Depository (CSD) in the event of a no-deal Brexit on 12 April

Bespoke gains pull CLO buyers as market tipped to hit $100bn
Synthetic bespoke issuance could catch up with the more visible CLO market this year, say structured credit specialists

Tabula launches ETF to capture iTraxx Crossover and CDX HY volatility premia
Tabula Investment Management, a European fixed income exchange traded fund (ETF) provider, has launched a product aimed at capturing the volatility premium embedded in index options on iTraxx Crossover and its US counterpart CDX HY

New Look bankruptcy credit event question put before Determinations Committee
The Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee for the Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region has been asked to rule on whether New Look, the UK based clothes retailer, has triggered a bankruptcy credit event

New manager Resco lands ex-credit head to found advisory board
Resco Asset Management, a London based asset manager set up last year, has appointed the first of an anticipated three advisory board members

Triple B fightback has begun, says BNP Paribas
Fallen angel risk – the possibility that a wave of triple B credits could be cut by rating agencies to sub-investment grade – should begin to decline, according to strategists at BNP Paribas

Steinhoff has triggered failure-to-pay credit event, rules DC
Steinhoff Europe has triggered a failure-to-pay credit event, the EMEA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee has ruled unanimously

Steinhoff Europe failure-to-pay credit event question posed to DC
The EMEA Determinations Committee has been asked to rule on whether Steinhoff Europe has triggered a failure-to-pay credit event, following the retailer’s lock-up period request

Short resets take CDS indices wider at March roll
CDX and iTraxx credit derivative indices are rolling into new series today, with short position resets taking the incoming series 31 of the Europe main index wide of where series 30 closed yesterday

Regulation stifles SRTs, but banks and investors revel in quarter-four outperformance
Over the course of 2018 there was roughly €6.5 billion of issuance in the market for significant risk transfer (SRT) deals, sources say, with the last three months understood to be the busiest quarter on record

CDS relative value traders shift their bets as Europe trades inside US
Credit derivative markets have hit a point of position cutting and resetting, with the iTraxx Europe index having dipped inside its US counterpart CDX IG for the first time since December even as the European Central Bank’s new funding programme underwhelmed financials traders

Demonised triple Bs could outshine angelic neighbours
There has been a stampede to denounce triple B corporate credit, but investors ditching this rating band may not only miss solid returns but find bigger problems up the spectrum, investors and analysts tell Creditflux.

Initial margin relief falls short of industry calls
Reprieve for many smaller counterparties from a requirement to post initial margin (IM) on derivative trades looks likely, following a statement from regulators this week

Isda tables plans to rid CDS market of narrowly tailored credit events
After lengthy deliberation, a working group of major firms is today set to publish proposals aimed at ridding the market of ‘narrowly tailored credit events’, whereby borrowers are persuaded to default on debt payments in order to trigger pay-outs for CDS holders

Tabula launches ETF to go short iTraxx Crossover
Tabula Investment Management, a European fixed income exchange traded fund (ETF) provider, has launched a product aimed at opening up the ability to short high yield credit to a wider base of investors

Mizuho appoints Cairn co-CIO as global markets head in London
The announcement follows the departure of the bank's incumbent head of global markets

US dollar three-month is focus point for benchmarks, finds Ice Libor survey
One-, three- and six-month US dollar and sterling are the focus points for Ice Benchmark Administration to seek agreement with banks, according to the results of IBA’s survey on uses of Libor

Isda extends German CDS protocol deadline beyond March index roll
The International Swaps & Derivatives Association (Isda) has extended the deadline for market participants to adhere to its German bank CDS protocol after it became clear a number of affected parties would not be signed up in time

Axiom launches credit derivatives fund under recent hire Henrio
Creditflux reported in October that the French asset manager was looking to launch the new credit derivatives strategy

US and UK sound post-Brexit derivatives regulatory accord
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Bank of England have issued a joint statement assuring derivative market participants of continued access to trading and clearing after the UK’s exit from the European Union