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If you don't get it right the first time, try and try again...Last Monday, a man botched an attempt to rob a First Union Bank in central Pennsylvania. Police said the thief handed the teller a note, which the teller handed back upon finding it illegible. He then left the bank, and has not yet been caught. The same man is suspected of robbing a Commerce Bank across the street on Wednesday.

Greg Sweeney, portfolio manager with Northern Capital Management, says he would like to rotate 15% of the firm's portfolio, or $45 million, from corporates into Treasuries. He will not make the move until he sees a sharp decline in Treasury prices. Sweeney says his target for the move would be a 10-year Treasury yield moving up to 5% from 4.06% as of last Monday. For the move to take place, he continues, the two-year Treasury yield should move up to 2.70% from 1.84% and the five-year yield, from 3% to 3.75%. Sweeney says that once the yield curve is more "fairly priced," he will add Treasuries because at a current 10% allocation, he is under-allocated for an asset class that usually makes for 25% of his portfolio. However, because the economy remains sluggish, Sweeney does not anticipate making this move before the middle of next year.

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.

Aegon Spain, which manages E850 million from its Madrid office, will add telecom bonds once the companies are upgraded to single-A or above. Enrique Marazuela, portfolio manager, says next year he will start to buy bonds that he has not touched this year, because their credit fundamentals are starting to improve and companies are working themselves out of the third-generation telephony licensing fiascos. He expects to see upgrades in the sector. He says he will buy the incumbents such as France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom and KPN once they are upgraded to single-A, because they represent good value. He expects upgrades to come gradually as these telecoms begin to de-lever. Aegon cannot own bonds rated lower than single-A.

Credit derivatives houses are waiting for the outcome of the U.K. government's restructuring plans for British Energy before triggering credit protection. One credit derivatives trader, however, said lawyers at his firm are examining triggering swaps under a bankruptcy clause, claiming that it has taken "action in furtherance of, or indicating its consent to" bankruptcy.

Barclays Capital has hired two top level credit derivatives professionals in a bid to become a major player in the European CDO and credit-default swap markets, according to Eileen Murphy, global head of agency CDOs in New York. The firm hired Paul Varotsis, executive director in structured credit trading at Lehman Brothers in London and the European chairman of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's credit derivatives market practice committee, in the new position of European head of agency CDOs. It has also brought on Olivier Staub, managing director and flow credit derivatives trader at Bear Stearns in London, as a director in a similar position. Varotsis and Staub declined comment.

Banc of America Securities has let go Jason Nagy, v.p. and equity derivatives trader, and Christopher Loudon, v.p. in corporate equity derivatives sales, in New York. Nagy reported to Benedict Wilkinson, managing director, while Loudon reported to Christopher Innes, managing director, according to an official familiar with the move. Nagy and Loudon could not be reached.

London derivatives professionals last week were puzzling over the fate of Sean Hamidi, senior managing director at Bear Stearns, who company officials insist is still on the payroll, but is no longer showing up for work. To compound the mystery two Bear Stearns staffers said professionals previously reporting into Hamidi had started to report directly to Hamidi's manager Michel Peretie, head of fixed income and derivatives for Europe and Asia. Peretie and Hamidi could not be reached. John Knight, spokesman at Bear Stearns in London, did not return repeated calls.

Crédit Agricole Indosuez is moving Philippe Jeanne, head of U.S. dollar derivatives trading in New York, to London to become the global head of trading for emerging markets. Jeanne replaces Hervé Martin, who is taking a new assignment within the group, Martin said, declining further comment. Jeanne's move is part of the firm's plans to combine its offshore and onshore emerging markets trading practice, which includes foreign exchange spot, options, credit and interest rate derivatives, Jeanne said, declining to elaborate.

Chubb Financial Solutions has hired Gary Wang, executive v.p. and director at Capital Networks, a Beijing-based firm specializing in financing China's telecom infrastructure, as a senior v.p. to head the firm's U.S.-based research group, where he will develop derivatives products. Tobey Russ, president and ceo in New York, to whom Wang reports, explained the firm appointed Wang after a recent restructuring which saw Anton Theunissen, who formerly filled the role, become head of Chubb's Financial Products division. Wang, who started at Chubb at the beginning of the month, declined comment.

Deutsche Bank has moved around several of the major players in its equity derivatives group in order to separate the business lines. The changes stem from a reshuffle in Asia, in which Nick Fennell, managing director in Hong Kong, has transferred to Tokyo to be head of program and relative-value trading for Asia Pacific and Japan. In addition, Ricardo Honegger, managing director and European head of flow derivatives trading in London, is flying out to Hong Kong to become head of equity derivatives sales and trading for the region, according to Yassine Bouhara, global head of equity derivatives in London.

Colonial First State Investments, the fund management arm of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia with over AUD87 billion (USD48.9 billion) under management, is considering boosting its presence in the credit-default swap market next year as an alternative to cash bonds for its AUD1.3 billion credit fund. Tony Adams, senior portfolio manager of credit funds in Sydney, said credit derivatives currently account for about 15% of the firm's portfolio but they could account for up to 30%.