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Morgan Stanley has appointed Jordi Visser, a managing director in its index options trading group, as a managing director and head of hedge fund sales for its equity derivatives group in New York. Visser, who confirmed his appointment but declined further comment, replaces Bill Levy. Levy left Morgan Stanley in early April to become the co-head of the global equity derivatives marketing group at Lehman Brothers in New York (DW, 4/7).

Vuk Bulajic, who resigned last week from his position as head of U.S. equity derivatives at BNP Paribas in New York (DW, 4/22), has joined CDC IXIS Capital Markets North America to replace William Toy, head of U.S. equity derivatives sales and trading. Toy, who resigned earlier this week, will stay on as a consultant, according to an insider. Bulajic confirmed the move but declined further comment. Reasons for Toy's departure could not be determined. Toy did not return calls.

Bank of China International, the investment banking unit of mainland banking giant Bank of China, is looking to expand its newly established equity derivatives business in Hong Kong to encompass credit derivatives and convertible bond arbitrage by the summer. BOC International recently set up an equity derivatives operation in Hong Kong led by Warren Kwan, who joined from Deutsche Bank (DW, 2/4). Although Kwan was hired to set up the equity derivatives operation he will also be responsible for hiring for the credit derivatives effort, he noted.

Pacific Asset Management, with over USD65 million in assets in Singapore, is looking to manage its first synthetic collateralized debt obligation. "Banks are keen to do this deal--the only trick is to get rid of the equity tranche," said Desmond Soon, investment manager in the Lion City. He predicted the CDO would up to USD500 million.

Bank One, the sixth-largest bank holding company in the U.S, is planning to launch a credit derivatives operation in London. The firm plans to hire a team of between six and 10 traders and structurers. Bank One believes there is a promising business opportunity in Europe for the credit derivatives market and fears it will "miss the boat" if it doesn't act soon, according to an official. The firm is active in the European foreign exchange, interest rate and equity derivatives markets.

BNP Paribas is relocating Francois Carnet, Asia head of equity derivatives in Hong Kong, to New York in the coming weeks in a move that is seen as an effort to revive the firm's U.S. operation. Carnet will replace Vuk Bulajic, head of U.S. equity derivatives in New York, who resigned on Wednesday. It could not be determined by press time whether Bulajic was pushed aside or left of his own accord. Carnet declined comment and Bulajic could not be reached. A spokeswoman in New York was unable to provide a comment by press time.

Banc of America Securities has hired Leif Andersen, a senior quant in Gen Re Securities quantitative research department, to fill a newly created position in New York covering the global credit derivatives market. Andersen, who joined BofA two weeks ago, said his exact title has yet to be established, but added that he will be concentrating on global credit derivatives quantitative research at first and then begin branching out to cover structured products and other asset classes. He reports to Nessan Fitzmaurice, chief technology officer and head of quantitative research. Fitzmaurice declined comment.

Crédit Agricole Indosuez plans to hire a managing director and two additional directors in its New York credit derivatives operation. The move is part of a global credit market push, according to an official. Last September the firm launched its first Asian credit derivatives desk in Hong Kong (DW, 9/23/01) and New York is the next market it is looking to tap because of the increase in North American end users, specifically hedge funds, mutual funds and insurance companies.

Bayerische Landesbank will launch a EUR2.5 billion commercial mortgage-backed securitization, one of the largest-ever from Germany, within the next 45 days. The deal, called Nymphenberg, will securitize commercial property loans from seven European countries, according to a banker involved with the deal. The deal will be structured using derivatives, but the final structure has not been determined. Commerzbank Securities is the lead manager.

Credit Suisse First Boston has promoted Chris Carter, head of equity trading, equity derivatives and convertible sales and trading for the Asia Pacific region in Hong Kong, to global head of equity options. Carter, who will work from the firm's New York office, replaces Maurits Schouten, who resigned about three weeks ago, according to a firm official. Carter reports to Phil Vasan and Paul Calello, co-heads of CSFB's global equity derivatives and convertibles group. Calls to Carter, Vasan and Calello were referred to CSFB spokeswoman Victoria Harmon, who declined to comment.

David Charles, head of risk management at Gen Re Securities in Tokyo, has joined Deutsche Bank's group market risk management team in London. A Deutsche Bank official in London said there is ongoing movement in and out of the group, declining to specify whether this is a new position. The group is responsible for managing all market risk across the bank's activities, of which the largest component is trading, the official added. Charles could not be reached for comment. The group is headed by Richard Evans, chief risk officer. Evans was traveling last week and could not be reached.