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A huge rise in the number of capital protected products using constant portfolio proportion insurance being placed in the last month has triggered demand for gap notes to lay off some of the risk.

Sam Gottesman, regional head of derivatives sales at Commerzbank Securities in New York, has resigned.

Recent regulatory changes in Taiwan will likely stunt the growth of its futures market and push OTC hedging to offshore centers, such as Singapore, according to Asia-based bankers who are up in arms about the shock change.

Taiwan Cement Corp., Taiwan's largest cement maker, recently started entering interest rate swaps in anticipation of further rate hikes.

Brake Bros, a U.K. food supplier, has entered a customized currency forward trade known as a forward extra with the Royal Bank of Scotland allowing it to benefit if sterling appreciates more than the one-year forward rate.

--Mark Dodd, head of the syndicate desk at Westdeutsche Landesbank in London, referring to doubts voiced in the market regarding the banks' ability to place a German corporate's high-yield offering outside the domestic retail market.

Segall, Bryant & Hamill Investment Counsel plans to add $10 million of taxable municipals in lieu of agencies.

Mid-sized German banks are starting to offer high-yield underwriting capabilities to domestic Mittelstand corporates, encroaching on an area that until now has been dominated by multi-national banking giants.

Frankfurt-based Deka Investment plans to invest €100 million over the next month and sees collateralized loan obligations as one of the few asset classes that still offers value.

RBS Greenwich Capital is creating a full-scale structured credit business in the U.S. and has hired Romita Shetty, former head of structured credit at J.P. Morgan Securities and a pioneer of the market.

Penn Capital Management will look for new high-yield buying opportunities this summer, said Eric Green, senior portfolio manager and director of research for $350 million in high-yield in Cherry Hill, N.J.