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Nick Kello, managing director and head of equity derivatives sales at BNP Paribas in New York, left the firm Tuesday. Kello could not be reached and his plans could not be determined. Edwina Frawley, spokeswoman, said Kello reported to Todd Steinberg, head of equities and derivatives sales for the Americas and has not yet been replaced.

Todd Steinberg has been promoted from deputy head to head of equity and derivatives for the Americas at BNP Paribas in New York. He replaces Amine Belhadj, who has moved to London as global head of commodity derivatives. Belhadj, in turn, replaces John-Marc Bonnefous, who has become global head of marketing and business development for commodity derivatives--a newly-created position. The trio could not immediately be reached, but Edwina Frawley, spokeswoman for BNP, confirmed the changes.

Two credit derivative officials at Citigroup in New York have left the firm; Saul Kattan, managing director, and Greg Miesner, director, both in global structured products. Neither could be reached and Danielle Romero-Apsillos, Citi spokeswoman, declined comment.

Credit protection for Vietnam has been picking up in recent weeks as hedge funds have been searching for new emerging market plays. "A lot more people are looking at the credit," said a senior trader at a European house. He noted in the last month five-year protection on the sovereign has been quoted regularly, whereas previously markets were made only sporadically, and several trades have gone through.

Domestic banks in Japan are being tipped to increase use of risk-transfer strategies, such as CDOs or interest-rate swaps on loans this year. Local banking giants tapped public funding a few years back to patch up balance sheets but with the economy back on track, they are looking at paying back funding through a risk management approach such as transferring concentration risk on loan portfolios.

The Japanese market is looking into the possibility of bringing about cash-settled credit derivative trades this year. Credit-default swap settlement was top of the agenda at last month's International Swaps and Derivatives Association AGM in Singapore and looks set to be this year's biggest project globally (DW, 3/17).

Calyon's Arnaud Droitcourt, head of Asian equity derivatives trading in Hong Kong, has left, according to firm officials. Reasons for his departure could not be determined by press time and Droitcourt could not be reached. Jean-Paul Brassier, Asian head of equity and credit derivatives in Hong Kong, to whom Droitcourt reported, did not respond to messages.

Graeme Anderson, managing director and head of European credit sales at Barclays Capital in London, has left the firm. Anderson, reached on his cell, said he left to take time out of the industry and isn't headed anywhere else. He had more than 70 staff under him and reported to Guglielmo Sartori di Borgoricco, global head of sales, who did not return calls.

Adam Clayton, managing director and head of European credit derivatives at Merrill Lynch in London, has quit the firm. Clayton could not be reached for comment, but an official familiar with the situation said he resigned on Friday. Clayton reported to Paul Horvath, head of structured credit product management, who was traveling and could not be reached for comment. Alex Walker, spokeswoman, declined immediate comment.

Thomas Spitz, head of credit trading and risk management at Calyon in London, has moved to New York to co-head with Zain Abdullah structured credit and collateralized debt obligations for the Americas. Reached in New York, Spitz said he made the switch to build and expand the firm's structured cash and synthetic credit trading business.

Merrill Lynch reportedly has hired Naresh Malhotra, head of correlation trading at UBS in New York. Terez Hanhan, Merrill spokeswoman, and Kris Kagel, UBS spokesman, did not return phone calls. The move follow a spate of additions in London, including the hire of Paul Levy, co-head of credit structuring, from Deutsche Bank (DW, 2/17).

Aladdin Capital Management will open a London office in the coming weeks and has hired Peter Allan, senior managing director, from NIB Capital Bank, to head up the soon to be formed, Aladdin Capital Management (UK).