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JPMorgan has combined its research and market data and analytical tools into one Web site under the MorganMarkets brand name and may allow clients to execute over-the-counter trades through the site. Rick Schonberg, v.p. of e-marketing for North America in New York, said it is canvassing clients and will make a decision based on their feedback. The firm also plans to develop new features, such as a post-trade tool that will allow clients to see a list of their over-the-counter transactions with JPMorgan, said Joe Miyake, associate in the e-commerce interest-rate marketing group in London. The post-trade tool will come online around early next year.

Marshall & Ilsley, a regional U.S. bank with USD29 billion in assets, has unwound interest rate swaps it entered in advance of two fixed-rate bond offerings it sold last month. Don Wilson, senior v.p. and treasurer in Milwaukee, Wis., said the bank entered several forward-starting swaps, at rates and with counterparties he declined to name, to lock in base rates in advance of a two-part USD550 million offering. The swaps were liquidated when Marshall & Ilsley issued the debt, which consisted of a five-year USD300 million piece and a 10-year USD250 million chunk.

Nabors Industries, an oil and gas drilling company with roughly USD2 billion in annual revenue, is considering executing its first over-the-counter interest-rate swap. Dennis Smith, director of corporate development in Houston, said the Standard & Poor's 500 Index constituent is considering entering a swap on the back of a recent two-part, USD500 million bond, privately placed by Lehman Brothers. "We're looking at it, but we haven't done anything yet."

Credit derivatives professionals are at loggerheads over whether last week's announcement of Marconi's planned restructuring means that hundreds of millions of dollars of credit protection can be exercised immediately, rather than waiting several months for formal restructuring proceedings to commence. The issue is significant because investors' credit protection could expire in the time between the announcement and the start of proceedings.

Principal protected securities are "an old trick" that has reappeared in more and more deals over the past few months, according to Arturo Cifuentes, managing director at CDO collateral manager Triton Partners. However, with U.S. Treasury bonds trading at high dollar prices, protection has a high cost attached to it, said a CDO analyst with a leading underwriter.

Marten Touw, head of the markets division at Shinsei Bank in Tokyo, has resigned, according to officials at the bank. Reasons for his departure could not be determined but officials said that a replacement is still being chosen. Touw joined Shinsei last year from Standard Chartered Bank where he was the head of global markets for North East Asia (DW, 2/18/01). At Shinsei he reported to Brian Prince, ceo in Tokyo. Prince was on vacation and could not be reached. Yoshi Nakagawa, spokesman in Tokyo, declined all comment.

Deutsche Bank and Credit Lyonnais are preparing separately to close the first Taiwan-dollar denominated credit derivatives in Taipei as they recently received dealing licenses from the Ministry of Finance. "This is a natural route for the market's development," said Bryan Yap, co-head of emerging markets-Asia; fixed-income and derivatives trading in Singapore. A marketer at JPMorgan in Taipei said the firm is currently in the process of applying for such a license, declining further comment.

Scottish Life International has written equity puts on behalf of its investors to structure a reverse convertible note for a new fund, dubbed Select Income & Growth Bond 3. The puts have a knock-in feature at 70% of the value of the worst performer of either the FTSE 100, the Standard & Poor's 500, or the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50. Neil Lovatt, director of marketing development at SLI, estimated the fund would be approximately GBP30 million (USD45.58 million), which is also the notional size of the equity puts.

The Taiwanese structure note market is expected to double before year end as more firms start marketing the products. Toronto Dominion Bank, Credit Lyonnais and Chinatrust Commercial Bank all have plans to market notes, such as inverse floating-rate notes where investors receive a higher coupon if rates are cut. Charles Chen, head of treasury at Toronto-Dominion Bank in Taipei, said TD is looking at this now because interest rate swaps are more liquid, and with the current high volatility the pricing on these notes is attractive. Eric Wu, manager of the derivatives department at Chinatrust Commercial Bank in Taipei, said his firm is responding to growing client interest.

"We don't expect large sections to be cut or added."-- Richard Metcalfe, co-head of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's European office in London, commenting on the latest equity derivatives draft definitions. For complete story, click here.

UBS Warburg is structuring a EUR1.5 billion (USD1.48 billion) collateralized debt obligation, which is its first euro-denominated securitization of counterparty credit risk from its derivatives books. It will be marketed primarily to European investors, but the underlying collateral will be globally diversified, according to an official familiar with the transaction. The purpose of the deal is to shed credit risk and is a joint venture between the firm and its largest clients. The deal allows UBS to take on more credit risk. Officials at UBS declined comment.