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Ajay Khanna, managing director and head of equity derivatives trading at Wachovia Securities in New York, has left the firm. He did not respond to messages left with colleagues and could not be reached. Elise Wilkinson, spokeswoman for Wachovia, declined comment.

Korean banks are picking up investment in synthetic collateralized debt obligations, as they look to improve balance sheets for the approach of the Basel II accords. "Local banks want to increase their quality of assets," said a branch head at a European house in Seoul, noting the pick up in interest for investment-grade international CDO portfolios. He added, "Structured credit in Korea is very hot this year."

Duke Funding Management, the collateralized debt obligation arm of USD17.5 billion Ellington Management Group, is managing its second hybrid synthetic CDO. The USD1.2 billion deal, called Duke Funding X, consists of 80% credit-default swaps on prime and sub-prime residential mortgage-backed securities and the rest in cash securities.

Merrill Lynch has hired Hongbing Hsu, v.p. in structured credit trading at Bank of America, as a director in New York. At Merrill, he reports to Ronnie Roy, managing director and head of structured credit derivatives.

Loan credit default swap dealers will meet this Thursday at Lehman Brothers' offices to lay the groundwork for a tradeable index comprised of CDS referencing loans.

David Flannery, managing director, has been named head of leveraged capital markets at Deutsche Bank.

The Loan Syndications and Trade Association loan-CDS working group approved the market advisor regarding market standard indemnity, which is part of the settlement rider, Elliot Ganz, executive v.p. and general counsel, said.

Single-tranche collateralized loan obligations securitized through total-return swaps and cash-synthetic hybrid CLOs are gaining popularity as documentation for U.S. loan-only credit-default swaps nears completion.

The regulatory environment and its effect on the trading of fixed-income securities are likely to be big talking points at the Bond Market Association's annual general meeting Friday, according to Mark Davies, global head of credit trading at Bear Stearns and vice-chairman of the BMA's executive committee in the corporate markets division.

The credit default swaps of several auto companies tightened on the expectation that Delphi Corp. will avoid a strike with its union, the United Auto Workers.

JPMorgan won the best par loan trading desk and Credit Suisse won the best distressed loan trading desk at Loan Market Week's 2005 Best Trading Desk survey.

This chart, provided by Citigroup Global Markets, tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities that trade in the secondary market.