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Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH), Spain's biggest bank, this week brought a securitisation of performing residential mortgages worth Eu917m. Lead managed by Morgan Stanley and BSCH, the deal was launched the week after competitive bidding, and was priced in line with the bid offer reported by bankers of around 22bp.

Merrill Lynch will today (Friday) price the first issue from the $3bn mortgage securitisation programme it established for the Hong Kong Mortgage Corp in December. HKMC is a Hong Kong government agency that buys residential mortgages from banks to promote a secondary mortgage market.

The Korean ABS market might be only in its infancy, but its growth has been spectacular, already far eclipsing the volumes in the Japanese and Australian domestic markets. Mark B Johnson looks ahead to a year in which more asset classes will emerge and more deals will migrate offshore.

With the Korean investor base clamouring for yield through offshore Korean bonds, some domestic borrowers have looked to the international currency markets. Last year two Korean issuers launched fixed rate dollar bond transactions, targeting them at their domestic investor base.

Korea was a critical market for equity deals in 2001, as new issuance volumes throughout Asia slumped. The government completed several landmark privatisation transactions, and the year ahead looks promising. The new issuance landscape will feature state and private sector bank offerings, as well as several large corporate deals linked to the nationwide restructuring efforts. Mark B Johnson reports.

Over the past year a succession of new or rare Korean credits have graced the international markets, underlining the hope that Korea will cement its role as a high profile source of high quality borrowers in the Asian debt markets. Observers believe that corporates can take advantage of this year's economic rebound to diversify their funding, using the international bond market to raise financing. But officials warn that the liquidity of domestic demand and a continued oversupply in many industries leaves little incentive for Korean issuers to look offshore. Richard Morrow reports on the market expectations for the Korean international bond market.

Over the past year, the Republic of Korea has weathered the economic slowdown and achieved a high degree of success with its restructuring programme. And with a positive economic outlook, the country is much closer to solving its remaining corporate and financial difficulties.

Korea's domestic bond market is in rude health. With the country's economy recovering, optimism is high that the next year will see investor demand increase and dealflow improve. In the past, investors tended to view the corporate market as a sideline of the main Treasury bond market. But as yields in T-bonds during last year fell to historic lows of 5% or under, investors have started to look for yield in other areas, namely the corporate market. Richard Morrow reports on what should be a benchmark year in Korea's domestic markets.

Global Crossing's bank debt experienced significant movement this week with more than $20 million changing hands in the 20-23 range as credit holders weighed the value of new bids for the bankrupt telecom. A $10 million piece traded at 22 1/2 early in the week, but traders said $5 million pieces had been moving all week. Market players debate takeover bids for the name and the value of the company's assets in the case of liquidation. Last week FleetBoston Financial filed a proposal stating that liquidation was its preference. That's the general sense among lenders, who stand to do better in liquidation than any other creditors.