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Barclays Capital has hired two top level credit derivatives professionals in a bid to become a major player in the European CDO and credit-default swap markets, according to Eileen Murphy, global head of agency CDOs in New York. The firm hired Paul Varotsis, executive director in structured credit trading at Lehman Brothers in London and the European chairman of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's credit derivatives market practice committee, in the new position of European head of agency CDOs. It has also brought on Olivier Staub, managing director and flow credit derivatives trader at Bear Stearns in London, as a director in a similar position. Varotsis and Staub declined comment.

Banc of America Securities has let go Jason Nagy, v.p. and equity derivatives trader, and Christopher Loudon, v.p. in corporate equity derivatives sales, in New York. Nagy reported to Benedict Wilkinson, managing director, while Loudon reported to Christopher Innes, managing director, according to an official familiar with the move. Nagy and Loudon could not be reached.

London derivatives professionals last week were puzzling over the fate of Sean Hamidi, senior managing director at Bear Stearns, who company officials insist is still on the payroll, but is no longer showing up for work. To compound the mystery two Bear Stearns staffers said professionals previously reporting into Hamidi had started to report directly to Hamidi's manager Michel Peretie, head of fixed income and derivatives for Europe and Asia. Peretie and Hamidi could not be reached. John Knight, spokesman at Bear Stearns in London, did not return repeated calls.

Crédit Agricole Indosuez is moving Philippe Jeanne, head of U.S. dollar derivatives trading in New York, to London to become the global head of trading for emerging markets. Jeanne replaces Hervé Martin, who is taking a new assignment within the group, Martin said, declining further comment. Jeanne's move is part of the firm's plans to combine its offshore and onshore emerging markets trading practice, which includes foreign exchange spot, options, credit and interest rate derivatives, Jeanne said, declining to elaborate.

Chubb Financial Solutions has hired Gary Wang, executive v.p. and director at Capital Networks, a Beijing-based firm specializing in financing China's telecom infrastructure, as a senior v.p. to head the firm's U.S.-based research group, where he will develop derivatives products. Tobey Russ, president and ceo in New York, to whom Wang reports, explained the firm appointed Wang after a recent restructuring which saw Anton Theunissen, who formerly filled the role, become head of Chubb's Financial Products division. Wang, who started at Chubb at the beginning of the month, declined comment.

Deutsche Bank has moved around several of the major players in its equity derivatives group in order to separate the business lines. The changes stem from a reshuffle in Asia, in which Nick Fennell, managing director in Hong Kong, has transferred to Tokyo to be head of program and relative-value trading for Asia Pacific and Japan. In addition, Ricardo Honegger, managing director and European head of flow derivatives trading in London, is flying out to Hong Kong to become head of equity derivatives sales and trading for the region, according to Yassine Bouhara, global head of equity derivatives in London.

Colonial First State Investments, the fund management arm of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia with over AUD87 billion (USD48.9 billion) under management, is considering boosting its presence in the credit-default swap market next year as an alternative to cash bonds for its AUD1.3 billion credit fund. Tony Adams, senior portfolio manager of credit funds in Sydney, said credit derivatives currently account for about 15% of the firm's portfolio but they could account for up to 30%.

The cost of euro/dollar options jumped by just under one percentage point last Thursday as the European Central Bank cut its refinancing rate by 50 basis points to 2.75%. One-month implied volatility stood at 7.5% after the cut on Thursday, having crept up from 7.4% the day before, and 6.9% a week earlier, noted a trader in New York. The euro broke through parity with the currency pair finishing at USD1.01 Wednesday, before falling back just below parity Thursday morning.

Goldman Sachs has let go Paul Murray, a weather derivatives trader in London, less than a year after he joined the firm from Enron, where he was head of weather derivatives. Murray could not be reached. Calls to Stefan van Riet, an official in Goldman's J. Aron commodity trading division to whom Murray is thought to have reported, were referred to the press office. Calls to Goldman's press office in London were not returned.

Marcellus Fund, a hedge fund recently launched by Monument Securities, is considering using over-the-counter equity derivatives within a year. Grant Cullens, cio in London, said initially the European long-short equity fund will only use exchange-traded equity derivatives, but he will consider using sector-specific OTC derivatives as the assets it manages grow.

Five-year credit protection on Ford Motor Credit blew out by 15 basis points Wednesday, following the announcement of poor results the previous day. Five-year default swaps widened to 425 basis points, up from 410bps the previous week, said one trader.