​Mid-Weekly: PIMCO Hire ¦ VIX Strategy Launch ¦ BNPP Structured Products ¦ New FIA

As everyone sits there wondering if the VIX is going to hit that 10 handle, we focus our coverage during the first part of this week on developments on the buyside. We report on how PIMCO has hired an ex-interest rate derivatives trader at Credit Suisse as a portfolio manager, while in Asia Pacific, a new absolute return VIX strategy is being launched by an Oz Fund Manager. Sticking with Australian investors, superannuation funds are increasing their allocation to equity options and options-based funds and strategies, with protection and overlay strategies the major focus. On the insurer side, Bankers Life has launched the Guaranteed Lifetime Income Annuity (GLIA) that allows investors to earn interest linked in part to the S&P 500 while protecting principal against downside market risk. And in Europe, we report on BNP Paribas being licensed a pair of new equity indices that focus on brand value for the launch of structured products. We also sum up recent bank earnings as they relate to derivatives, with Asia markets weighing on equity sales and trading revenues in Q2 2016.