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Choice One Communications bank debt has been crawling up toward the 40 range since the company reported better financial results for the second quarter. A $10 million piece of the bank debt was said to have traded around the 39 level this week and about $30-40 million is believed to have changed hands in the 36-39 range last week. Prior to the recent activity, traders said the paper last traded in the 32 context about a month ago.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

Credit-default swap spreads sprung out, and then back, after a U.S. court imposed a delay on ABB putting one of its units into bankruptcy. Swaps traded as wide as 665 basis points, before moving back to the 645bps level before the court ruling, according to London-based traders.

ABN AMRO has hired Richard Whittle, executive director at UBS, as head of exotic credit derivatives. It is a new position at ABN, according to Alex Evans, spokesman in London. Whittle will report to Arne Groes, global head of credit markets trading in London. Whittle could not be reached by press time.

Swaps houses including Bank of America, JPMorgan and Standard Chartered have set their sights on pioneering a 15-year local currency interest rate swap market after the first 12-year deal was executed last week. Aaron Poon, Hong Kong head of rates trading at JPMorgan, said the move to extend the interest rate swap curve was triggered by demand for higher yielding products and made possible by a jump in the volume of long-term local debt. Bond shops have underwritten over HKD2.17 billion (USD278 million) in long-term debt so far this year compared with only a few hundred million dollars last year.

HSBC Asset Management has entered an equity index swap to structure a six-year capital protected fund referenced to the FTSE 100. In the swap, HSBC receives the performance of the equity index and pays the floating rate on a basket of medium-term notes it will buy to provide capital protection, according to James Chu, director of structured products in London.

Bear Stearns has hired Masayuki Ishido, v.p. in integrated credit trading at Deutsche Bank in Tokyo, as an associate director for its credit derivatives trading desk in Tokyo. "Masa is an excellent trader and adds depth to our credit trading effort," said Ralph Orciuoli, managing director and Asian head of credit trading at Bear Stearns in Tokyo, to whom Ishido now reports.

Credit Suisse First Boston has transferred Andrew Martin, v.p. and credit derivatives trader in Singapore, to Hong Kong. The firm's main fixed income trading desk for Asia is in Singapore, but it has added a trader in Hong Kong to sit alongside its local sales team, according to Martin. The move is part of CSFB's increasing focus on China.

Deutsche Bank has hired Charlie Remnant, multi-asset class sales for retail products at Merrill Lynch in London, as v.p. in structured credit products to U.K. clients. He reports to Raj Dhown, head of fixed income sales in London.

One-month 25-delta risk-reversals have moved from 0.25% in favor of euro calls to 0.3% in favor of euro puts since the start of the month. Mark Stafford, foreign exchange options trader at Deutsche Bank in London, said, "The market is worried about the euro depreciating against the dollar. This has been driven by recent U.S. economic data exceeding expectations."

The International Accounting Standards Board made several concessions at its Board meetings in late July and continues to listen to intellectual and practical arguments on IAS 39 from the European banks. This article is the first half of a summary of the July update published by the IASB. It remains the IASB's intention to issue a final standard by the end of the first quarter. A further exposure draft on macro hedging was issued last week.