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Traders at interest-rate derivatives houses in Taipei, including Citibank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC andCredit Lyonnais, expect an interbank swaptions market to develop in Taiwan this year on the back of the launch of an interest-rate futures contract. Currently, a few caps and floors have been executed but traders have not seen any swaptions.

Standard Chartered Bank has hired Adrian Fong, v.p of rates trading at JPMorgan in Hong Kong, as chief dealer of Hong Kong dollar interest-rate derivatives. The hire is part of the firm's plan to bulk up its fixed income derivatives capabilities, according to Dennis Wong, Northeast Asia regional head of interest-rate derivatives in Hong Kong (DW, 10/14). He added, "Adrian will reinforce our market-making capabilities for Hong Kong dollars." Previously Wong held this role but he said it has added a layer of management to build up the team. Fong, who is due to start this week, was on gardening leave and could not be reached for comment.

Hugh Evans, managing director and co-global head of credit derivatives trading at UBS Warburg in London, left the firm last week. He reported to Robert Wolf, co-global head of fixed income in Stamford, Conn. Former colleagues said Evan's departure was inevitable. One said "[his] power had been reduced over the last six months, the writing was on the wall." Another added that Wolf and Evans had a personality clash and Wolf was responsible for pushing him out. However, Wolf denies there was a personality clash between the two and said Evans was not sacked.

The London Investment Banking Association is scheduled to meet Wednesday with the Financial Services Authority to push for a reduction in proposed regulations governing a listed retail derivatives market in the U.K. One of the central planks of LIBA's position is it wants the FSA to classify derivatives for the retail market as "securities", which would thereby require a less onerous regulatory framework, according to Tim Plews, partner at Clifford Chance in London. LIBA is representing a number of equity derivatives houses which hope to see a comparable U.K. retail equity derivative market to the massive German and Swiss retail warrants markets. Among firms pushing for the creation of the market--either independently or via LIBA--are Deutsche Bank, Citibank, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Commerzbank.

Yorkshire Building Society, the third-largest thrift in the U.K. with more than GBP12.5 billion (USD17.8 billion) in assets, has entered a foreign exchange swap to convert into sterling USD350 million of a USD500 million bond deal it sold last month. Chris Parrish, group treasurer in Bradford, said the building society entered a swap with Royal Bank of Scotland Financial Markets to convert the bond into its base currency. Gordon Taylor, director of origination at RBOS in London, confirmed the bank acted as Yorkshire's counterparty.

When trading slowed down early last week a dealer craving for action put a price on his own head, literally. After proposing to shave his head for $1000, traders scrambled to find willing participants to back the deal. By mid-week the price had surged. "He's got a bid of $1500," said one trader, adding, "But, he'll come down." LMW could not confirm if the transaction was ever completed.

This chart, provided by Citibank/Salomon Smith Barney Inc., tracks bid-ask prices for par credit facilities for the week ending March 1 that trade in the secondary market. It also tracks facility amounts, ratings, pricing and maturities.

Home builder D.R. Horton received a $30 million add-on credit two weeks ago upon the completion of its merger with Schuler Homes, increasing the size of its new $775 million credit line to $805 million. The deal follows the company's refinancing of an existing $775 million, four-year revolver at the end of last month which was maturing this April. Bank participants on Schuler Homes' existing First Hawaiian Bank-led $300 million revolver offered the additional $30 million to D.R. Horton as part of an agreement whereby D.R. Horton paid down Schuler's existing line. The add-on credit, which will be used for working capital purposes, was contingent upon the closing of the merger deal, explained Sam Fuller, executive v.p. and cfo of D.R. Horton.

Allied Irish Bank priced notes two weeks ago to fund its latest $400 million collateralized loan obligation and is looking to become an active participant in the growing European and U.S. CLO market. The deal marks the third cash-flow arbitrage CDO completed by the bank, which has structured past deals with both leveraged loans and high-yield bonds as collateral. "We'll be back and back again in the CLO market," said Paul Carey, head of Corporate Banking New York for AIB, explaining that loan and bond CDOs are becoming a greater part of the firm's overall approach to the loan market. Carey said the bank is looking to do more CLOs in the future, including a U.S. denominated deal in the next year and additional Euro-denominated deals like the one the bank just closed.

Allied Waste Industries' debt climbed up last Thursday with traders estimating that a total of $10-20 million traded on the name. Among the trades, dealers said $2.5 million of the term loans "B" and "C" traded at 99 1/2, up from the 98 1/8 level two weeks ago as the market cast favorable eyes on the sector. Traders said $2.5 million of its term loan "A" traded at 97 3/4 in the street. "This market is feeling the impacts of the economy but not as much as manufacturing or other cyclical markets," said Marcy Odlaug, Fitch Ratings analyst.

AngloGold has secured lower pricing on its recently refinanced $600 million, three-year revolver due to stronger company performance and a globalization strategy. The new credit is priced at LIBOR plus 70 basis points compared to the 90 basis points spread on its former $350 million, three-year revolver, which was set to mature on Feb. 12. The globalization strategy, which has led the company to earn roughly half of its EBITDA outside of its South African base, has lowered its credit risk in the eyes of its lenders, said Jonathan Best, finance director of AngloGold. "Our plan has been to diversify away from purely deep mines in South Africa," he said, adding, "This is not an exit South Africa strategy but one to diversify geopolitical risk and mining risk in order to lower the cost of capital."