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Bear Stearns is attempting to increase its fund derivatives business by increasing the coordination between its fixed income and equity sales channels. The firm has hired Marc Besson, head of European structured derivatives marketing at Commerzbank Securities in London, to lead the charge. Besson is the first specialist marketer and will work alongside the two generalist sales forces. Besson will hire more marketers opportunistically.

BNP Paribas has hired Joe Yang, senior fixed income options trader at Deutsche Bank in New York, for a similar position. Yang will trade over-the-counter options on Treasuries, agencies and mortgage backed securities, according to an official familiar with the hire.

AXA Investment Managers, with EUR270 billion (USD286 billion) in assets under management, has billions of dollars set aside to invest in securitized products and plans to expand into managing bespoke CDO notes as well as move into the U.S. Pierre-Emmanuel Juillard, head of securitization and structured credit in Paris, said it plans to invest EUR2-3 billion in ABS and EUR500 million in CDOs in the next three years. The European asset manager is already one of the largest European investors in securitized products with around EUR3 billion in ABS, with a further EUR750 million in CDO equity and EUR700 million in mezzanine tranches. One CDO banker said now is the best time to snap up securitized products because spreads are wider and many investors, such as the monolines, are pulling back.

David Boberski, director in fixed income strategy at Banc One Capital Markets, who specialized in derivatives strategy, has joined Bear Stearns in a similar role. Dan Spina, senior managing director and head of financial analytics and structured transactions, to whom Boberski reports, and Boberski, did not return calls.

Bank One has hired three foreign exchange options traders in Chicago as part of the firm's strategy to rebuild the business (DW, 19/1). Dan Munro, who joins from Banc of America Securities will run yen option trading while George Kapotas, who previously worked with Chicago-based firm DRW Trading, will trade Canadian and Mexican options, said Justin Foley, managing director and global head of fx options, who made the hires.

Crédit Agricole Indosuez is structuring what is thought to be the first synthetic collateralized debt obligation referenced to convertible bonds. The firm is structuring the CDO, which could be anywhere between EUR300 million-EUR2 billion (USD321 million-2.14 billion), to lay off credit risk originated from its convertible bond stripping desk, according to Zouhair Bechchar, head of CB stripping in London.

Caltex Australia, Australia's largest oil refining and distribution company with assets of over AUD3 billion (USD1.78 billion), is looking to tap the interest rate swap market. "We're seeking to extend [the maturity of] our swaps," said Seong Lim, treasury manager in Sydney, noting that the firm is looking to roll over about AUD100-200 million in two and three-year interest rate swaps within the next six months. "We think rates will hold," he added. The company is looking to maintain its level of hedging 50% of its outstanding liability book via synthetic fixed positions. In the swaps, Caltex will pay fixed and receive the six-month floating bank bill rate, said Lim.

Kenneth Song, head of structured credit trading at Commerzbank Securities in London, has left the firm to head back to the U.S. Song is reportedly returning to Greenwich, Conn. to work for a hedge fund and be nearer his family, according to a banker familiar with the move.

Los Angeles-based asset management firm Centre Pacific has shelved plans for a high-yield collateralized loan obligation (CLO) and is instead seeking to complete a synthetic investment-grade transaction. This will be the first time Centre Pacific has managed an investment-grade structured deal, but the conditions for issuing high-yield CLOs are not opportune, said David Gold, managing director of Centre Pacific. "Issuing the notes/equity is the difficult task in the current environment. Synthetic investment grade issuance is rapid and more certain today," he said. Centre Pacific will be looking for a lead bank in order to execute a transaction in the second quarter, he stated.

Deutsche Bank has hired a pair of credit derivatives traders in new positions in Tokyo and London. Attilio Pietranera, exotic credit derivatives trader at JPMorgan in London, has joined in a similar position, and Kwee-Tee Lim, exotic credit derivatives trader at UBS Warburg in London, has been hired as a correlation trader in Tokyo. Pietranera will report to Mark Stainton in London, Stainton said. Lim will also report to Stainton, but will report locally to Kazue Takagaki, senior correlation trader in Tokyo, and Aaron MacDougall, head of credit trading in Tokyo. Pietranera started in the past few weeks and Lim will join mid-April. Pietranera declined comment and Lim could not be reached. Takagaki referred calls to MacDougall. MacDougall confirmed the move, but declined further comment.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has hired Zach Tuckwell, head of European equity portfolio trading at Merrill Lynch, in a similar role in London, and expects to announce up to 10 additional hires in the group in New York, Tokyo and London. Dresdner is finding more demand for portfolio trading and is opportunistically building its presence, according to an official familiar with the plans. Tuckwell will report to Tim Clorite, global head of portfolio trading. Clorite referred calls to the press office. Louise Beeson, spokeswoman at Dresdner in London, did not return calls

Seventeen derivatives houses, including JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, agreed to delay the adoption of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's 2002 equity derivatives definitions to June 1 at a meeting at JPMorgan's London office on Thursday. The start date was pushed back because derivatives houses still need time to prepare their back office systems and confirmations to handle the change, participants said. This is the same reason that pushed back the date for new credit derivatives definitions (DW, 3/9).