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CMBX, the commercial mortgage-backed securities derivatives index, rolled last week and dealers took the opportunity to add BB-rated credits in a bid to attract new investors.

Deutsche Bank is set to market a multicurrency collateralized debt obligation, Titian CDO I.

Hedge funds investing in emerging markets are the latest hot sector for fund-linked structurers.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board last week proposed a limited-scope exception to mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities from FAS 133.

Trading desks have been rushing to keep up with the latest spate of leveraged buyout and mergers and acquisitions reports that are the only source of juice in a market where credit-default swap spreads and volatility have been grinding lower.

Uncertainty surrounding the interest-rate policies of Australia's and New Zealand's central banks prompted strong buying of AUD/NZD short-dated at-the-money options last week.

--Ravi Anand, head of structured products at New Star Asset Management in London, explaining how hedge fund Amaranth's collapse has highlighted the danger of investing directly in single funds and boosted the appeal of New Star's exchange-traded hedge fund index investment.

Citigroup has also combined its European hedge fund sales coverage with that of other institutions under Stuart Pyott, head of U.K., Dutch and Scandinavian institutional sales.

Lloyds TSB has completed its first collateralized loan obligation, a GBP1 billion (USD1.89 billion) synthetic unfunded balance sheet transaction.

Merrill Lynch in London has hired Makram Abboud from UBS in a new position as managing director and head of emerging market sales.