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Merrill Lynch reportedly has hired Naresh Malhotra, head of correlation trading at UBS in New York.

A couple of credit researchers at the buffet lunch were considering indulging in dessert when one decided the fruit salad combo on offer was just too healthy.

Next year General Motors Corp. will default and the credit cycle will turn, predicted panelists on an industry roundtable.

Domestic banks in Japan are being tipped to increase use of risk-transfer strategies, such as collateralized debt obligations or interest-rate swaps on loans this year.

A plethora of synthetic collateralized debt obligation issuance in Europe is crippling liquidity in the single-name credit-default swap market.

UBS has launched best-of, option-linked, constant proportion portfolio insurance structures in Asia which offer upside on global indices with capital protection.

Credit protection for Vietnam has been picking up in recent weeks as hedge funds have been searching for new emerging market plays.

Static synthetic collateralized debt obligations issued in Europe are being arranged purely to capture rating arbitrage, and the structures are likely to die off completely.

Static synthetic collateralized debt obligations are twice as likely to default as a managed transaction, said Kenneth Gill, managing director and head of European CDOs at Fitch in London.

Legrand, the French electrical fittings company, completed a spectacular Eu1.01bn initial public offering this week, in what equity specialists hailed as the most successful equity sale of the year so far.

Mike Camacho, formerly co-head with Adam Green of North American structured investments marketing in New York, has been promoted to head of the group. Green, now simply managing director in the group, reports to Camacho, who in turn reports to Tony Best, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa investor client management in London. Best is now in charge of third-party distribution for globalized products. Camacho and Green referred questions to a spokesman, and Adam Castellani, spokesman, declined comment. The shake-up is a continuation of the global realignment of key products groups that has been going on since January.

Investors greet the Thaksin Shinawatra’s decision to step down as prime minister, sending markets surging