Free content

HSBC has hired Matthew Kerfoot, v.p. in Credit Suisse's fund-linked structuring legal group in New York. Kerfoot is tipped to be taking a similar role at the firm, reporting to Lisa Roitman, senior v.p. in global structured funds. Roitman referred a call to Juanita Gutierrez, HSBC spokeswoman, who did not immediately return phone messages, and Kerfoot, reached on his cell phone, declined comment. Mary Claire Delaney, Credit Suisse spokeswoman, did not return phone messages.

Bear Stearns has hired Andrew Suh, managing director and head of equity derivatives marketing for Korea at Citigroup in Hong Kong, in a new role as a senior managing director in the structured equity products group in Hong Kong, to push into the growing Korean market. "We've built up a strong business in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan and now want to leverage our platform," said Edward Ho, senior managing director and head of structured equity sales in Hong Kong. He noted the firm has additional hires in the works, declining comment on numbers. Last year the firm built out its equity derivatives business—centered in Tokyo—by hiring a team from Merrill Lynch to set up a desk in Hong Kong (DW, 3/18/05).

Darol Ryan, a principal in institutional equity derivatives sales at Bank of America in New York, resigned Thursday. He is tipped to be joining JPMorgan, but that could not immediately be confirmed.

London's Court Of Appeal has overturned a case in which oral misrepresentation by a structured product sales official was held to have over-ridden written terms and conditions of the instrument.

Samuel Koh, former Asian head of domestic derivatives trading at HSBC in Hong Kong, has resurfaced in a senior role at Singapore's Pacific Asset Management. Koh, who joined this month, will launch a regional local-currency fixed-income book for the fund, focusing on local-currency bonds, interest-rate swaps and total-return swaps in markets such as Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Korea. "There are a lot of opportunities in this space," said Koh.

Wachovia Securities International is launching a debt principal finance business in London and has hired a managing director from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to head the group.

Financial de-regulation and housing market rear their heads again

Dealers in the credit default swap market are working on an alternative to the net physical settlement procedure that the International Swaps and Derivatives Association is spearheading to cash settle credit default swap trades.

Investors were all worked up over the $7.2 billion in cable name paper that hit the market last week, but some expressed concern that at least one of the deals could be pushing the envelope a bit too much.

New York-based Halcyon Asset Management is planning to dive into collateralized debt obligation issuance on a regular basis.

Highland Capital Management closed on its acquisition of ING Capital Management's (ICM) European loan business from ING Wholesale Banking.

With investors digesting the changes to the Dole Foods credit, some on the buyside were still getting a chuckle about the conference call in which David Murdock, chairman and ceo, advised potential investors to eat fruit and vegetables.