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Hypo Real Estate Bank has leveraged the super senior tranche of a commercial mortgage-backed securities portfolio it first launched in the fall.

All eyes were on China throughout this year as the highly anticipated revaluation of the currency spurred liberalization on the derivatives front.

The popularity of leveraged super senior tranches this year figures to continue unabated as structurers look to add a range of bells and whistles to the investment products.

Pension and insurance fund managers are increasingly venturing into trading equity volatility as an asset class in its own right.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, along with a group of dealers and lawyers, is working on updating its novation protocol to ease adherence for new entrants to the credit derivatives market.

Off-the-run investment-grade credit-default swap indices became liquid for the first time after September's bi-annual North American CDX roll.

The trade association is considering drafting a master confirm or publishing definitions of credit-default swaps on asset-backed securities.

Widespread trepidation about portfolio overlap in synthetic collateralized debt obligations prompted dealers to source more diversified underlyings this year, a trend likely to continue into next.

"It could chill the market."--Craig Goldblatt, a partner with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in Washington, D.C., explaining the possible impact if a pending court decision about equity swaps comes out in favor of Enron (DW, 1/7).

The retail market heated up in Asia, with a wave of players entering the field and a wider array of complex structures being offered.

Five-year credit-default swap spreads on General Motors Acceptance Corp. jumped wider last week on speculation parent General Motors may sell its controlling stake.

The rapid growth of innovative credit structures this year has given rise to a flood of documentation inaccuracies which, if tested by a credit event, could open a legal can of worms.