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Traders were snapping up Swiss franc options against most of the major currencies last week in the short-end of the curve. "Clients were gagging to get into the gamma," said Lars Ahlgreen, senior foreign exchange trader at Credit Agricole Indosuez. This caused euro/Swissie one-month implied volatility to jump to 5.41% Wednesday from 5.1% the previous Friday.

Standard Chartered has hired Nick Beecroft, previously global head of spot and proprietary trading at Deutsche Bank, as global head of foreign exchange trading. He started on Tuesday and reports to Jared Chase, group head of global sales and trading in London.

ABN AMRO, Citibank, HSBC and Standard Chartered are looking to structure exotic foreign exchange options on the Indian rupee following the official opening of the onshore market last Monday. Market professionals have been eagerly anticipating the start of an options market since last year (DW, 4/28/02). "There's already been a huge amount of interest," said Madhav Shankar, senior manager of derivative sales at Standard Chartered in Mumbai, adding that he expects daily volumes could reach USD80 million (notional) in the next few months. In contrast, a dealer estimated average daily (notional) fx option turnover in Singapore is USD150 million. Douglas Bongartz-Renaud, global head of fx options at ABN in Amsterdam, said "The creation of an onshore rupee options market is a very significant event."

A European Union regulation that was due to open the over-the-counter derivatives market to retail investors could be less of a gold rush than lawyers had first predicted. Regulators are trying to restrict the application of UCITS III (Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities) now that they have realized the new rules would open up the whole gamut of derivatives to retail investors, according to one lawyer.

Readers of this space are always interested in the alter egos and hobbies of bank loan participants. Claudio Phillips, the head loan trader at Salomon Smith Barney, was featured last year when he won a coveted Tony Award for Best Musical for his role as one of the producers of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Well, Annie Greven, a par loan trader at Rabobank International who recently moved over from Morgan Stanley (LMW, 3/17), has stepped into the spotlight after being featured in The New York Times as a proud owner of a Vespa--The Scooter for Dreamers and Romantics. Reportedly, the Vespa has been an ice-breaker with clients. The only thing Greven does not like to discuss is the broken arm she suffered after getting gutsy and accelerating over a curb and into a wall. Exhibiting the resilience of a true loan market veteran, she parked her Vespa and hailed a cab for a trip to the hospital. Greven revealed to LMW that she is now fully recovered and is back up and riding again.

This chart, provided by Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney Inc., tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market. It also tracks facility amounts, ratings, pricing and maturities.

Convertible and capital structure arbitrage trading desks at firms including Commerzbank Securities and CRT Capital Group in the U.S. are increasingly on the prowl for professionals with backgrounds as high-yield analysts as a greater focus is placed on fundamental credit analysis skills. Carlos Mejia, v.p. at executive search firm the Options Group in New York, said the market is shifting from a focus on volatility and historical performance data to one that values a more credit intensive approach. This has become more important in the aftermath of fallen angels such as WorldCom.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

Commerzbank Securities has hired Puru Sareen, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch in New York, as an equity derivatives salesman and structurer. He will report to Kumar Doraiswami, head of institutional sales, who said Sareen will start in the coming week.