Dexia BIL Asia Singapore, the South Asian arm of Dexia Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, plans to boost its use of credit derivatives for its USD1 billion investment portfolio. "We are going to become more active," said Ng King Hong, head of financial markets. He noted that as credit derivatives make up a small portion of the firm's investment portfolio--less than 5%--Dexia is looking at doubling or even tripling its exposure to such products in the coming months given low cash bond yields. Also, Ng noted that selling protection offers the firm a more attractive alternative to buying cash bonds because the trades are unfunded.
