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A Chinese regulator is expected to give insurance companies the go ahead to invest in collateralized debt obligations.

Focus Investment Group, a New York-based fund of funds firm, has hired Amar Sil, a risk manager for mortgages and fixed-income derivatives at Smith Barney, to be its director of risk management.

The synthetic collateralized debt obligation is well-established as a vehicle used to facilitate balance sheet capital management, credit risk transfer and credit trading.

Rainer-Marc Frey is reported to be in the early stages of setting up a hedge fund and wealth management group, called Horizon 21.

Foreign exchange professionals are betting Malaysia will revalue the ringgit if China allows the renminbi to appreciate against the dollar.

In response to a General Motors Acceptance Corp. new issue GMAC's spread widened to 285 basis points from 185bps over one week.

The yen's continuing climb against the dollar, moving to JPY103.50 from JPY103 last Friday, led investors to play the currency pair in two ways, an fx options trader said.

JPMorgan is pitching first-to-default type instruments linked to equity-default swaps.

Jupiter Asset Management is planning to hedge its exposure to equity volatility during the pricing period of its next structured product.

Moody's Investors Service is gearing up to launch a new modeling system for collateralized debt obligations, which it believes will simplify the ratings process.

Alain Chanezon, responsible for monoline exotic derivatives at Société Générale in Paris, is reported to be heading to Nomura in London.