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Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has hired Mark Wells, head of advanced equity product at TD Securities in London.

The launch of CMBX, a planned index of AAA-rated commercial mortgage-backed securities that will be used to facilitate credit-default swaps, has been pushed back until February.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association plans to release a draft of its so-called Evergreen Protocol this week.

A variation on a credit versus equity trade emerged last week that has structured trading desks buzzing.

Portfolios of investment-grade credit-default swaps are being ramped up because a change in Standard & Poor's methodology has injected value into higher-rated tranches of collateralized debt obligations.

Alex Haidas, head of retail structuring and marketing covering credit and rates at JPMorgan in London, has jumped to buy-side firm North Asset Management.

IXIS Corporate & Investment Bank is pitching a novel collateralized fund obligation which offers tranched exposure to a EUR1.55 billion French fund of hedge funds.

ING Financial Markets is considering structuring equity-linked deals on Turkish underlying on the back of growing investor appetite for emerging markets.

Sal. Oppenheim, a German private bank, is looking to use variance swaps for the first time.

Equity derivative officials in Korea are anticipating an upswing in call-option-spread components in equity-linked notes, replacing the popular barrier-option plays that have been a huge business in the last few years.

Philippines' sovereign credit protection tightened in to record levels last week following strong interest globally in emerging-market credits and positive economic sentiment.