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Convertible and capital structure arbitrage trading desks at firms including Commerzbank Securities and CRT Capital Group in the U.S. are increasingly on the prowl for professionals with backgrounds as high-yield analysts as a greater focus is placed on fundamental credit analysis skills. Carlos Mejia, v.p. at executive search firm the Options Group in New York, said the market is shifting from a focus on volatility and historical performance data to one that values a more credit intensive approach. This has become more important in the aftermath of fallen angels such as WorldCom.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

BondWeek is the leading news publication for fixed-income professionals, covering new deals, structures, asset-backed securities, industry and market activity.

Commerzbank Securities has hired Puru Sareen, equity strategist at Merrill Lynch in New York, as an equity derivatives salesman and structurer. He will report to Kumar Doraiswami, head of institutional sales, who said Sareen will start in the coming week.

China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., one of the world's largest manufacturers of marine containers with over CNY9.44 billion (USD1.14 billion) in assets, is considering entering interest rate swaps on the back of upcoming debt issues. "We've been [looking] into the possibility of new long-term financing," said Tony Yao, assistant manager in the finance department in Shenzhen.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is gearing up to restart its weather derivatives business in Japan. Earlier this year the bank decided to shift its derivatives-related businesses to Mitsubishi Securities to integrate cash and derivatives products (DW, 4/4). Hiroshi Yoshimine, global head and general manager of the derivatives and structured products division, said that as part of the move, the firm is in the process of obtaining a weather derivatives license for the securities house and should receive the green light from the regulators in the next few months.

Bank of America has hired market veteran Franck Sylvain, a senior corporate bond trader at Morgan Stanley in London, as a senior trader on its European high-grade credit flow trading desk. John Brewer, head of the desk at BofA in London, said the move is part of the bank's on-going expansion into credit trading.

Bank of America has hired Andrew Jackson, head of credit derivatives at Fitch Ratings in London. He will report to Hans-Jurg Lips, managing director in global structured products, who declined comment.

"Interest rates are less than 2% and we want to see how we can take advantage of that."--Panos Koumandos, general director in finance at the Hellenic Railways Organization in Athens, explaining his motivation for looking at derivatives to shorten the duration of its debt portfolio. For complete story, click here.

Fitch Ratings will start rating collateralized debt obligations using correlation and simulation technology later this month. "This means we can get closer to real world events," explained Stefan Bund, managing director responsible for the new criteria in London. Fitch will start using the model, dubbed the Vector Model, on July 14.