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Credit Suisse First Boston has hired Krishna Memani as its corporate bond strategist, according to an analyst at the firm. Memani joins from Putnam Investments, where he was a managing director and senior portfolio manager since 1998 in the core fixed-income, core fixed-income high-yield and utilities teams.

Despite the continued layoffs afflicting Wall Street and concerns over reduced compensation, the record levels of distressed debt activity are putting at least one group of portfolio managers in the money. According to a Greenwich Associates survey, U.S. distressed debt managers earned on average $732,000 in 2001, compared to $570,00 for high-yield bond managers. Credit derivative portfolio managers, meanwhile, on average earned $543,000. "The risk posture, or risk-reward, of the investments is the key driver in the higher compensation afforded to these individuals," said Greenwich marketing analyst Bill Staikos. The remuneration compares to an average compensation of $321,000 for U.S. fixed-income managers, the survey reports.

Thanks to the corporate disasters of the past year, the new financial lexicon includes expressions such as "Enronitis," "Tycosis" and "WorldCon." Now, playing on the common term "fallen angel," Goldman Sachs has produced a report dedicated to "flaming angels." A flaming angel is a company that has not only lost its investment-grade rating but has also defaulted on its debt. The lead contenders for the title are not surprisingly Enron and WorldCom.

Napoleon Rodgers, portfolio manager at Alpha Capital Management, says he will add agency bullets, Treasuries and high-quality corporates, using existing cash and new money to fund those acquisitions. The overall purchase will represent 11%, or $13.2 million of the firm's $120 million portfolio. Those purchases will be distributed between agency bullets, for $6 million, and Treasuries, for $5 million. Other purchases, accounting for 2%, or $2.5 million of the firm's portfolio, will be allocated to triple-A or double-A rated corporates.

Large piles of unclosed trades stocked against increasing volumes and a wave of new market players, particularly in the distressed market, have ignited a concerted effort to deal with the slow settlement times in the secondary loan arena. As it stands now, it typically takes more than 45 business days for a distressed trade to settle. That number is up from about 20 days in 1998. The increased counter-party risk associated with such delays is pushing the loan market to a point that risk management individuals are beginning to take a interest in reducing settlement times, explained Don Pollard, co-head of Credit Suisse First Boston's syndicated loan group.

Rick Weinstein, managing director and head of credit derivatives at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London, has become global head of credit derivatives structuring and Javier Martin-Artajo, head of credit derivatives trading in London, will now be global head of credit derivatives trading and co-head of the group. The two new positions were created because of the growing importance of the trading business and follows the appointment of Paul Lewitt, co-head of credit derivatives at Westdeutsche Landesbank in London, as head of credit derivatives flow trading. Lewitt reports to Martin-Artajo.

Lehman Brothers and Commerzbank Securities are pitching trades based on a bullish view of the Canadian dollar. Eric Ohayon, head of foreign exchange structuring at Lehman in London, said investors are showing some signs of returning appetite for risk, which has historically been positive for the Canadian dollar as they look for higher yielding peripheral trades. The firms' views on volatility, however, diverge, as Lehman is expecting short-term volatility to fall and Commerzbank expects it to remain high.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association has published a blueprint for the new equity derivatives definitions it plans to publish before year end. One of the most significant changes is the clarification of mergers and the options that are available to deal with these events in derivatives contracts, said Karl Rogers, director and head of legal counsel for trading and derivatives at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London. In the 1996 definitions all the shares of the companies involved in a merger had to be transferred to the new entity in order for the option to also be transferred, which caused problems if minority shareholders kept shares. The most recent example of this was the Mannesmann and Vodafone merger. But, the new definitions have a tender offer clause in which derivatives professionals can select options from a menu depending on how many of the shares are transferred.

HVB Asia, the Asian arm of Germany's HypoVereinsbank, is gearing up its newly minted Asia structuring operation to offer foreign exchange and equity-linked products. "This is a core area for us in Europe and the States and we wanted to bring this to Asia," said Nick Hamilton, managing director of securitization and credit trading in Singapore.

JPMorgan has combined its research and market data and analytical tools into one Web site under the MorganMarkets brand name and may allow clients to execute over-the-counter trades through the site. Rick Schonberg, v.p. of e-marketing for North America in New York, said it is canvassing clients and will make a decision based on their feedback. The firm also plans to develop new features, such as a post-trade tool that will allow clients to see a list of their over-the-counter transactions with JPMorgan, said Joe Miyake, associate in the e-commerce interest-rate marketing group in London. The post-trade tool will come online around early next year.

Marshall & Ilsley, a regional U.S. bank with USD29 billion in assets, has unwound interest rate swaps it entered in advance of two fixed-rate bond offerings it sold last month. Don Wilson, senior v.p. and treasurer in Milwaukee, Wis., said the bank entered several forward-starting swaps, at rates and with counterparties he declined to name, to lock in base rates in advance of a two-part USD550 million offering. The swaps were liquidated when Marshall & Ilsley issued the debt, which consisted of a five-year USD300 million piece and a 10-year USD250 million chunk.