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James Neill, foreign exchange strategist at Bank of America, has left the firm. A spokeswoman confirmed his departure, but declined further comment. Neill was no longer at BofA last week and could not be reached for comment.

Credit-default protection on Hewlett-Packard widened more than 40% last week on the heels of a mammoth USD1.5 billion offering the technology company issued, according to traders. Five-year default-swap spreads widened roughly 40 basis points during the week, with mid-market protection jumping to roughly 130 basis points by late Wednesday from 90bps on Monday. The bond offering was increased to USD1.5 billion. "Their existing debt was fairly minimal and then these new bonds came and pushed out default protection quite a bit," said one trader in New York. He said there did not appear to be any credit-related reason for the higher cost of protection and attributed it solely to the technical factor.

Goldman Sachs has created a standalone derivatives marketing group, called the European corporates team, to market interest-rate, foreign exchange and credit derivatives as well as general financing instruments, such as bonds and loans, to corporates. The firm formed this group to provide corporates with a single point of contact, according to Rebecca Nelson, a spokeswoman in London. Although it is only implementing this strategy in Europe, if it is successful the firm would consider replicating it in the U.S. and Asia, a Goldman official said.

"Surely we would be interested."-- Jitendra Jain, fund manager at Reliance Capital Asset Management in Mumbai, explaining that he would use interest-rate options if the Reserve Bank of India permits them. For complete story, click here.

Kuala Lumpur-based Aims Asset Management, with USD130 million under management, is considering investing in equity-linked notes in the coming months. "Right now we're trying to weather the storm," said David Watt, managing director, referring to the current slide in equity prices. He said if it makes the jump it would likely be sometime in the next six to 12 months, the decision will depend on the risk return profile of the notes. Watt noted that equity-linked notes could provide an enhanced yield over traditional investments such as cash equity. The equity-linked notes would be referenced to Asian rather than global stocks, said Watt.

Merrill Lynch is looking to build up is credit derivatives structuring effort in Tokyo on the back of growing investor demand, according to market officials. One official said Merrill is looking to hire a credit structurer as well as a marketer who will focus on CDOs. The new hires will probably report to Taro Masuyama, head of credit derivatives structuring in Tokyo, who declined comment.

Norway's export credit agency Eksportfinans recently entered a cross-currency interest rate swap to convert a JPY50 billion (USD390 million) fixed rate bond issue into a synthetic floating rate dollar-denominated liability, according to Johann Rud, v.p.-treasury in Oslo. The swap matches the maturity of the bond, which comes due in December 2003. He declined to name the underwriters or the swap counterparty. The fx rate used in the swap is JPY128.25, he added.

Merrill Lynch is bringing aboard Bertrand Hongre, v.p. in interest-rate derivatives trading at Credit Lyonnais in Hong Kong, according to officials at the firm. Hongre will start in Hong Kong, but transfer to Tokyo in the coming months, according to officials familiar with the move.

Nomura International is looking to hire two traders for its Asian equity derivatives operation in the coming months, according to market officials. One official said the Japanese investment house is looking to hire an additional trader in London and Hong Kong to bolster its coverage of the Asian markets as interests grows for Asian exposure. The traders will likely report to Andy Wong, head of equity trading in Hong Kong, according to officials. Wong declined comment. The firm currently has only one trader stationed in the U.K. overlooking Asia.

Singapore-based OCBC Bank is preparing to start marketing structured notes for the first time in the coming weeks. "We'll have something out in the next few months," said Yap Tsok Kee, v.p. of global treasury. OCBC has been looking at offering exotic derivatives for sometime (DW, 11/11) and started marketing interest-rate options earlier this year. The exotic products will include range accruals, barrier options and callable notes.