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Jason Megson, an equity derivatives trader at CDC IXIS North America in New York, has left the firm. Megson, who could not be reached, is not yet thought to have joined a competitor. His departure follows Quincy Evans and Christophe Thomas, who co-headed the firm's convertible arbitrage effort (DW, 7/13). Janine Shagoury, spokeswoman in New York, declined comment.

Investec Financial Products is selling a structured note with embedded options to give investors capital protected exposure to Nova Alpha, a fund of hedge funds. Andrew Irvine, head of structured investment products in London, said it is launching the product because of demand for capital preservation and interest in the hedge fund sector.

Goldman Sachs has hired Gilles Dellaert, credit derivatives structurer at JPMorgan in New York, for a similar role. Dellaert, who declined comment, is reporting to Shlomi Raz, v.p. in structured credit marketing, according to an official familiar with the move. Raz, who was traveling and could not be reached, joined the firm from JPMorgan earlier this summer (DW, 7/13). Bruce Corwin, spokesman in New York, did not return calls. Michael Dorfsman, spokesman at JPMorgan in New York, declined comment on Dellaert's replacement.

Seoul-based Korea Exchange Bank, with over KRW61.4 trillion (USD51.9 billion) in assets, is considering investing in synthetic structured credit instruments, including collateralized debt obligations. "It's an idea I have," said Hee Dong Kim, head of the financial engineering department in Seoul. Kim said he is planning to speak with international derivatives houses to gain a further understanding of CDOs and credit baskets.

KEB Commerz Investment Trust Management, with KRW2.7 trillion (USD2.3 billion) in assets, is gearing up a cross-asset class fund that will employ equity derivatives in the coming months. Jae Hyun Lee, head of equities, said it will trade such instruments as over-the-counter options, equity-linked notes and convertibles.

Merrill Lynch is structuring several innovative synthetic securitizations to tweak extra basis points out of a credit market in which the arbitrage opportunities have all but disappeared. Philippe Hatstadt, the firm's newly installed head of structured credit derivatives trading in New York, said investors are crying out for higher returns and the firm is looking at structural innovations and new asset pools to jack up yield.

Fixed-income hedge funds have started unwinding swaps and offloading municipal bonds to take profit after the recent surge in volatility. Ying Chen Li, director in the fixed income strategy division at Merrill Lynch in New York, explained that many hedge funds held short positions on LIBOR swaps as hedges for their portfolios. Under these trades they paid a fixed-rate based on LIBOR and received floating. As interest-rates declined over the last year the hedges had been losing money, however, recent rocketing volatility has put the trades in profit.

National Australia Bank has hired Jacqui Steel, a foreign exchange professional at Westpac Banking Corp. in New York, as head of institutional foreign exchange sales, which includes over-the-counter options. Robert Cone, senior v.p. and head of the markets division for the Americas at NAB in New York, said Steel has been hired as the Australian firm aims to pump up its U.S. fx sales coverage. Steel will start in October. She could not be reached for comment.

Stanfield Capital Partners, a New York-based money manager that runs several hedge funds, has hired a head of risk management.Gordon Yeager was previously with software vendor RiskMetrics Group, where he served as the head of the alternative investments area responsible for designing and implementing risk management frameworks for clients. Yeager said he will join the firm later this month.Christie Kinney, v.p. of marketing and client services, noted that Yeager's position is newly created. Kinney declined to comment further.

Adrian Hyde, U.S. head of credit derivatives trading in New York, has quit TD Securities to set up an independent investment firm. Joe Hegener, vice chairman in New York, who Hyde reported into regionally, said Hyde quit because he wanted to set up his own project. Hyde and Hegener declined comment on the new venture.

Second Curve Capital, the financial sector hedge fund shop founded by Tiger Management alumnus Tom Brown, is planning to launch a small- and mid-cap fund in the fall. The firm is finalizing which prime broker it will hire for the new fund, said Stephen Krug, coo, declining to elaborate. Second Curve, which manages USD275 million, uses ABN AMRO as the prime broker for its flagship fund.

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