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High leverage and rising interest rates are contributing to wider residential mortgage-backed securities spreads, but RMBS credit-default swap spreads are near all-time tights. Traders said the discrepancy between the cash and synthetic markets is growing and is being driven by hedge funds shorting RMBS protection.

Credit Suisse's head of equity derivatives flow trading in London has left for a role at Merrill Lynch.

Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse are slated to put together the largest term loan on record to back the $12.3 billion buyout of Univision by a consortium of private equity groups.

Los Angeles-based TCW Asset Management is decreasing the proportion of credit-default swaps in the latest installment of its hybrid collateralized debt obligation series because of tightening spreads. The USD500 million deal, dubbed STACK 2006-1 and structured by Morgan Stanley, references A- through BB-rated residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed CDOs.

Tom Doyle, deputy head of alternative investment sales at SG Corporate & Investment Banking in London, has left after a few months to return to KBC Financial Products. Doyle joined SG in February (DW, 2/3) reporting to David Escoffier, head of equity derivatives in the U.K. Doyle could not be reached for comment and Escoffier did not immediately respond to a message.

Calyon later this month will transfer Cedric Dubois, global head of exotic equity derivatives trading in Paris, to Hong Kong to become head of equity derivatives trading for Asia. Dubois is replacing Jean-Paul Brasier, Asian head of equity derivatives in Hong Kong, who left in recent weeks to take time out of the industry (DW, 6/2). Dubois noted he will be in place by mid-July, declining to further comment.

Citigroup has recruited Ashish Sekhri, v.p. and credit structurer at Credit Suisse in Singapore, as a structured credit trader in Hong Kong. "We still see a lot of opportunities in the structured credit space," said Debashish Dutta Gupta, in global credit derivatives trading in Hong Kong. The desk is looking for at least one additional hire this year on the back of growing client interest for more exotic products, he added.

Deutsche Bank's Vinod Aachi, co-head of equity structuring in the global markets group in Singapore, has now also taken up the reins for the firm's nascent retail unit in Asia. The move follows the recent retirement of Ken Sue, head of the investment products group in Hong Kong, who helped establish the unit last year (DW, 5/19).

Dresdner on Central Europe's interest rate risks; Axa, Atlantis and Credit Suisse on investor confidence and Standard Chartered on currencies

The Bond Market Association is blasting a new proposal by the National Association of Securities Dealers that would require NASD members to reveal additional information about the counterparties to a trade on the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE).

Investors headed over to the Time Warner Center Thursday night for "Jazz in the Park" with RBC Capital Markets.

JPMorgan last week landed more than $400 million in auctioned loans in one busy afternoon that saw collateralized loan obligation managers sell off three portfolios.