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Philip Tsao, Asia-Pacific regional co-head of debt capital markets and head of fixed income derivatives at UBS in Hong Kong, has left the firm and is joining a Taipei-based domestic bank as president in mid-April.

UBS has signed up Ryan Chan, a v.p. in credit structuring at Morgan Stanley in London, to head Asian credit derivatives structuring out of Hong Kong.

EuroMTN issuers produced a flurry of inflation-linked hybrid structures this week, combining linkage to inflation with other plays, on interest rates or equities.

Two members of a fund derivatives team tapped from Bank of America last year have left Societe Generale. Jason Griffiths, head of U.S. structured product sales, has joined Jeffries & Co. as co-head of equity products, and Joel Denny has joined Swiss Re as senior v.p. in the equity and equity-linked group. Messages left for Griffiths and Denny were not returned, and Jim Galvin, spokesman at SG, did not return phone calls by press time.

Players who lost money on Cendant credit-default swaps last week, when the company announced it would not guarantee debt at recently spun off unit Avis, have been trying to get lenders to persuade the company to change the decision. Traders said it's unusual but not unprecedented for hedge funds and asset managers on the losing end of CDS trades to get a company to change terms. But, it looks like this attempt is doomed: in a conference call yesterday the company re-affirmed the plan.

Kevin Murphy, Richard Johnson and a third member of the marketing team left Stanfield Capital last week.

The first credit index option with a one-year maturity was traded this morning in London. The trade is a straddle on the Series 5 iTraxx Europe with a March 2007 expiry and 50 basis points strike and Goldman Sachs, UBS and a third undisclosed counterparty were involved in the deal.

Gary Cottle, managing director and head of European corporate derivatives sales at Barclays Capital in London, has quit the firm. An official on the desk confirmed his departure, but Cottle did not return messages left on his cell and it could not be immediately determined if he has taken a new position. He reported to John Winter, head of capital markets in London, who referred calls to the press office where Kerry Kennedy, spokeswoman, did not comment by press time.

BNP Paribas has hired Dan Bystrom, director and head of exchange-traded fund options trading. Edwina Frawley, spokeswoman, confirmed the hire and said Bystrom will report to David Abner, head of ETF in the Americas, and Stephane Petermann, head of index options trading in the Americas. Before joining BNP, Bystrom was an independent trader and prior to that he spent five years at Merrill Lynch in equity derivatives, most recently as head of ETF options trading.

Credit Suisse has signed up Kaan Basaran, managing director in structured products sales to the Middle East at Merrill Lynch in London, to head its investment banking division in Istanbul. He joins as managing director reporting to Ram Nayak in London, who was on holidays and unavailable for comment. Reached on his cell, Basaran declined to detail his new position and Rebecca O'Neill, spokeswoman, did not return a phone message by press time.

Scotia Capital, the investment banking arm of Canada's Scotiabank, is revving up its newly-minted credit structuring desk in Asia and recently rolled out a managed CDO deal. "We've had a big corporate banking presence in the region for over 30 years," said Matt Giffen, managing director and Asian head of structured products in Singapore. "This Asian expertise, coupled with our success in doing structured credit deals in the region over the last few years made it clear we needed to build on our partnerships and investor base."

This chart, provided by Citigroup Global Markets, tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market. It also tracks facility amounts, ratings, pricing and maturities.