Derivs - Credit

Several credit derivative product companies that had been in the works have stalled as the pace of debt raising has slowed to a standstill.

Deloitte & Touche, the receivers of the SIV Portfolio, formerly Cheyne Finance, plan to make payments to senior creditors.

The Commercial Mortgage Securities Association is concerned the synthetic CMBX index is not a fair benchmark and has injected volatility into the underlying cash market.

Dealers are becoming more concerned about the possibility of bespoke collateralized debt obligations being unwound, as a result of an increase in defaults on corporate debt.

Exposure to monoline financial guarantors has had limited impact on Asia Pacific region structured finance transactions currently outstanding, according to Fitch Ratings, which believes this will also be the case going forward.

Credit indices and single name credit-default swaps were tighter last week following the roll into the new series of the investment-grade index.

Attorneys think Merrill Lynch will likely prevail in its lawsuit against XL Capital Assurance, after the monoline cancelled USD3 billion in protection it had sold Merrill on six collateralized debt obligations.

Markit Group's iTraxx Asia ex-Japan Main and iTraxx Japan 80 credit derivatives indices were both laid to rest last week because illiquidity stifled any meaningful activity, traders and analysts said.

FASB has amended an accounting standard to increase transparency and disclosure of U.S. entities' derivatives positions.

Hedge funds are starting to request dealers post collateral.

Some hedge funds that sold protection on Bear Stearns two weeks ago spent early last week buying up shares of the company in an effort to gather voting rights and ensure the merger with JPMorgan goes through.

The issue of controlling rights in collateralized debt obligations is at the center of a lawsuit filed last week by Merrill Lynch against XL Capital Assurance.