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There is always demand in the foreign exchange market to determine market positioning as a guide to the near term pressures on a currency. This is because if the short term speculative market is long in a particular currency, then there is an increased risk these positions will be reversed and there will be a sharp move lower. The data on international money markets (IMM) positioning will give some indication on the speculative stance of the market, but it only represents a small part of the marketplace. In addition, it only provides information on Friday for market positioning up to the previous Tuesday. By Monday morning, when the figures are widely known, the data are nearly a week out of date.

Monument Investment Management, a division of Monument Securities, which recently launched its first hedge fund, is planning to hire derivatives savvy professionals in the next few months and will also launch additional hedge funds. Grant Cullens, cio in London, said he will mainly be hiring fund managers, but will also look to add traders. Once it has more staff, the fund manager will go ahead with plans to launch additional hedge funds. Cullens would not elaborate on the planned number of hires.

Futures Plan, the first hedge fund to be launched by IFX Investment Management, will use over-the-counter foreign exchange options. Christopher Cruden, head of managed investment products in London, said the new global fund will have four fund managers, three of which will invest solely in foreign exchange products and one which will invest in fx and fixed income instruments. The fund will start trading in a few weeks and Cruden said it is targeted to raise approximately EUR50 million (USD50.49 million) by the end of next year.

ING Financial Markets is gearing up to move its Hong Kong-based Asian foreign exchange and fixed income trading operation to Singapore in the coming weeks. "This is a move to rationalize costs and handle trading through a single entity--based upon greater efficiency," said Tim Fallowfield, director of foreign exchange, money markets and derivatives trading in Hong Kong. Fallowfield will move with five traders to join the sales team, which has already relocated to Singapore in recent weeks. The Hong Kong dollar derivatives trader will remain in Hong Kong along with the China coverage sales team. Fallowfield said moving the operation to Singapore means ING will be able to reduce its back-office costs.

HSBC is expanding its structured credit product teams in both New York and London as it continues its campaign to become a major global credit derivatives house. Rick Ziwot, head of structured credit products in New York, said he plans to grow the department to 25 staff members from its current 14 by the end of the first quarter.

KEB Commerz Investment Trust Management, a Seoul-based asset manager with over KRW3 trillion (USD2.4 billion) under management, is gearing up to launch a fixed income fund in the coming weeks that may employ over-the-counter equity options. "We could possibly use derivatives to hedge equity exposure," said Jae Hyun Lee, head of equities in Seoul. He continued that the upcoming fund, with a target size of KRW50-100 billion, will invest 60% of assets in domestic bonds and 40% in convertibles. Lee noted that in the event of rising stock prices whereby it makes sense to convert the CBs to equity, KEB Commerz will consider hedging the equity volatility via single-stock OTC options.

Lehman Brothers has recently started offering hybrid credit-default swaps that either enhance yield for sellers of protection or reduce the cost for purchasers. These credit products include an additional derivative component, such as an fx or interest rate option, explained Georges Assi, director in structured credit trading at Lehman in London.

UBS Warburg is looking to expand its emerging markets fixed income derivatives trading capabilities in the coming months. The firm will likely start trading Mexican peso derviatives in January, with Chile's and Brazil's yeilds curves being next on the list, according to Joonkee Hong, global head of emerging markets derivatives in New York.

Merrill Lynch has promoted Jason Brand, head of corporate finance in Tokyo, to become head of its global investors clients group, which is responsible for all debt sales, in New York. The position was vacated in September, when Doug DeMartin, who had previously filled the role, became head of global credit products in New York, according to a firm official. Brand confirmed the move, but declined further comment.

Rentokil Initial, a holding company best known for its pest control business, is looking at using foreign exchange derivatives to hedge exposure to currency fluctuations, according to Edward Collis, deputy treasurer in East Grinstead, U.K. He referred further questions toTony Stephens, a spokesman, who denied the company is reviewing its revenue hedging strategy, but declined further comment. Rentokil made headlines in the financial press recently when it admitted taking a GBP10 million hit to profits in the first 10 months of the year due to adverse currency movements in the U.S. dollar and in Asian and South African currencies.

Bermuda-based hedge fund manager Green Cay Asset Management expects to buy equity options on hard assets, including assets from the energy, real estate and materials sectors. Jane Siebels, ceo and cio in Nassau, Bermuda, said the the soon to be launched Siebels Hard Asset Fund will use equity options to invest, when it cannot buy shares.

Tesco Plc, a U.K. supermarket chain with GBP23.7 billion (USD37.2 billion) in annual sales, is examining the possibility of using credit derivatives for its investment portfolio. Keith Richardson, treasurer in Cheshunt, U.K., said the company has just begun speaking to investment banks to get a better grasp of the market. However, he said this is not an imminent foray and declined to disclose to which firms it is speaking.