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We are in serious trouble over our selection of young ladies for The Prada Handbag awards in the EuroWeek Review of the Year 2001. Several doe-eyed Euromarket lovelies are refusing to speak to us and one especially grumpy girl reminded us of the pain which a well directed kick with a Charles Jourdan court shoe can inflict in the most tender area of the male anatomy. Hold back those kicks in the penalty box, please ladies. We were only trying to please, because we still firmly believe that female business talents do not always receive the recognition they deserve. Even a one-eyed judge would have to conclude that the international capital markets are essentially a men's club, some of whose members' lewdish behaviour might make even Millwall football supporters blush. There are exceptions to the rule of course - just look at the success of the likes of Zoe Cruz, Hope Pascucci and Abigail Hofman - but then count up how many Euromarket gals who, in our opinion, are underpaid or who are denied promotion. Mrs Pankhurst and the Suffragettes must be looking down and wondering whether their efforts were in vain.

Asset management firm WestAM is close to completing the expansion of its global fixed income and currencies team with the appointment of Moe Daniel this week. Daniel has already joined the London office as a technical analyst. His appointment follows the hires in November of Ju Yen Tan as a fixed income asset manager and Jim Hurlin as a fixed income product specialist (see EuroWeek 729).

Were you surprised to see the promotion of Robert Willumstad to be president of Citigroup and therefore the assumed successor to the legendary Sandy Weill? Our pals at Salomon Smith Barney had kindly told us that he was the man to watch, and how right they were. Our only concern for Mr Willumstad is that Sandy Weill just loves his job and that he doesn't always like to share his toys. Just look at the sudden fall of Jamie Dimon, who was once the golden boy on Sandy's first team. Then Sandy Weill and the taciturn John Reed were said to be closer than two peas in a pod, but suddenly there was only one pea left and Johnny was last seen walking the plank. Bob Willumstad was always going to be a frontrunner, simply because he does what Sandy Weill likes best; dumping billions of dollars on to Citigroup's bottom line. He runs Citigroup's huge and awesomely profitable consumer finance business, which last year accounted for $30bn in revenues. Like the UK high street banks, Citigroup knows every way to skin a cat or fleece a sheep and consumer finance is a licence to print money. Don't feel sorry for the consumer unless you are a good Samaritan.

Japanese issuers dominated the yen market on Friday, with the seven trades from the country taking a 64.4% market share in terms of volume. Toyota Motor Finance announced two deals, a ¥2 billion ($15.15 million) two-month note with a fixed coupon of 0.04%, and a ¥500 million 10-year trade. Daiwa Securities SMBC and Diamond Lease Company bith went for ¥1 billion two-month trades, while Hitchi Credit (UK) announced a ¥2 billion one-year deal, Mitsubishi Electric Finance Europe did a ¥1 billion four-month trade and Sumitomo Bank International Finance did a ¥1 billion 20-year trade with an initial fixed coupon of 2%. But step-up reverse floating rate notes were the flavour of the day, with several European issuers going for the structure. Landesbank Baden-Wurrtemburg announced a ¥500 million 10-year deal via Mizuho. It pays a fixed coupon of 1% for the first year and then becomes a step-up reverse floating rate note. Mizuho also led a trade for Venantius. The ¥600 million step-up reverse floater note goes out to February 2012 and pays a fixed coupon of 1.2% for the first year. The fixed coupon then steps up annually and the 6m ¥Libor rate is subtracted. Westland/Utrecht Hypotheekbank did a ¥1 billion 20-year deal with Deutsche Bank as bookrunner. The coupon is set at 2% for the first year then steps up by 20 basis points annually and the 6m ¥Libor rate is subtracted. Rabobank Nederland made its 29th trade of 2002, with a ¥3 billion step-up inverse floater. The note is a Bermuda-callable at six months, and has an initial fixed coupon of 1.8%. And Royal Bank of Scotland did a ¥1 billion 20-year non-call six trade. The coupon is set at 2% for the first year and then is 2% plus an annual step up minus the 6m ¥Libor rate. Commerzbank was the bookrunner. Deutsche Apotheker- und Aerztebank did a ¥500 million two-year deal via UBS Warburg. It pays a straight floating rate coupon of 3m ¥Libor plus two basis points.

There were 18 trades announced in the yen market yesterday, and as has been the case for a while, triple-A issuers were favoured over any other credit band. There was one trade from a non-investment grade borrower however, a ¥1 billion ($7.58 million) two-month note from Ba3-rated MMC International Finance (Netherlands). It has a fixed-rate coupon of 0.45%. CDC IXIS Capital Markets was the busiest triple-A in action. It announced three 30-year notes: a ¥300 million trade with an initial fixed coupon of 6%, a ¥200 million trade with an initial fixed coupon of 3.5% and a ¥600 million trade with an initial fixed coupon of 4%. Nederlandse Waterschapsbank announced a ¥2 billion 20-year trade with Tsubasa as bookrunner. Its 10th note of the year pays an initial fixed coupon of 4% and is callable after a year and then semi-annually. Merrill Lynch did the swap for the issuer. Pfandbriefstelle der Osterreichischen Landes- und Hypothekenbank did a ¥1 billion 15-year deal via UBS Warburg. The power reverse dual currency note (PRDC) pays an initial coupon of 3% and is then linked to the yen/US dollar exchange rate. It is callable annually. And Kommuninvest I Sverige closed a ¥100 million note with Tsubasa as bookrunner. It goes out to January 2027 and after an initial coupon of 4% becomes linked to the US dollar/yen exchange rate. It is callable annually. Svensk Exportkredit did a ¥500 million 29-year deal and a ¥300 million 30-year deal. Canadian Wheat Board made its 10th deal of 2002 with a ¥1 billion 15-year trade. It has an initial fixed coupon of 2.5%. Rabobank Nederland continued issuing step-up floating rate notes. Its ¥2 billion 10-year trade was done by Tokyo-Mitsubishi International and after an initial coupon of 1% becomes a step-up inverse floater. Royal Bank of Scotland announced a ¥300 million 30-year note via BNP Paribas. It has an initial coupon of 2% for the first year then becomes an inverse floater.

Trades in yen have been small recently, but Societe Generale Acceptance announced two ¥8 billion ($60.25 million) notes yesterday. They are short-dated, both maturing in April this year, and pay fixed coupons of 8.33% and 8.1%. Vorarlberger Landes- und Hypothekenbank also announced a ¥1.8 billion trade, with Nomura as bookrunner. The power reverse dual currency note (PRDC) pays 4% for the first year then is linked to the US dollar - yen exchange rate. It is callable after a year and then semi-annually. Nomura had a busy day on the dealing side yesterday. It also did three trades for KfW International Finance, all of which were for ¥1 billion. One matures in February 2022 and after three years paying 5.5% it becomes callable and linked to the US dollar - yen exchange rate. One matures in March 2022 and is a step-up note, starting at 0%, and linked to the Australian dollar - yen exchange rate. The other matures in February 2032 and is linked to the US dollar - yen exchange rate and is Bermuda-callable annually. And Nomura led a ¥1.3 billion 20-year deal for Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten. It pays 3.5% for the first year and is then linked to the Australian dollar- yen exchange rate. Kommunalbanken did a ¥1 billion 29-and-a-half-year trade via Salmon Smith Barney. It pays an initial coupon of 5%. Pacific Life Funding announced a ¥3 billion five-year-and-two-month trade. It pays an initial fixed coupon of 0.81%. And Statoil announced its first deal of 2002: a ¥500 million five-year deal that pays an initial coupon of 0.87%.

Twenty trades were announced in yen on Friday, worth the equivalent of $172.61 million. The biggest deal was done by Pfandbriefstelle der Osterreichischen Landes- Hypothekenbank. It was a ¥5 billion ($37.66 million) 15-year trade with Tokyo-Mitsubishi International as bookrunner. The coupon is set at 1.85% for the life of the note, and there are annual calls at the option of the issuer. It was good day for triple-A issuers all round, with eight of the 20 notes being announced by that credit bracket. African Development Bank went for a ¥1 billion 30-year deal with an initial fixed coupon of 4%. CDC IXIS Capital Markets did two trades, one for ¥200 million the other for ¥1.1 billion. They go out to February 2012. And World Bank did a ¥1.7 billion 20-year deal. KfW International Finance announced a ¥1 billion 30-year note via Tokyo-Mitsubishi International. After a year paying a fixed coupon of 5% it becomes linked to the US dollar-yen exchange rate. The note is callable annually. Kommunalbanken did a ¥300 million 30-year deal also via Tokyo-Mitsubishi International. And Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank went for a ¥1 billion 10-year note with Mizuho as bookrunner. It is callable after six months, and the coupon is fixed at 1% for the first two years and then steps up each year by 47 basis points. Svensk Exportkredit did a ¥300 million 30-year deal with an initial coupon of 5%.

The yen market this year has yet to see many trades over ¥5 billion, but the triple-As are keeping volumes ticking over until the market finds top gear. CDC IXIS Capital Markets, KfW International Finance, Kommunalbanken, Lloyds TSB Bank and World Bank were all involved yesterday, announcing a variety of trades from ¥500 million to ¥5 billion. Salomon Smith Barney led a ¥5 billion 30-year deal for World Bank, which also did four other deals for ¥1 billion (10-year), ¥2.5 billion (20-year), ¥1 billion (30-year) and ¥3 billion (30-year), and Salomon also helped Lloyds TSB Bank place its ¥1 billion 15-year note. CDC IXIS Capital Markets did three ¥500 million trades, two with terms of 30 years and the other with a term of 10 years, and also did a ¥700 million 29-year-and-10-month trade. Cadbury Schweppes announced its first yen note of the year: a ¥1 billion three-year deal with a fixed coupon all the way to maturity of 0.35%. ING Barings/BBl was the bookrunner. Nikko Bank (Luxembourg) did the smallest note of the day: a ¥100 million three-month trade with Salomon as bookrunner. Salomon also led a ¥1 billion three-month deal for Sumitomo Chemical (UK), and Nippon Oil (USA), the only other private corporate in the market, announced a ¥1 billion six-month trade. Private corporate finance issuer Suntory Capital went for a ¥1.2 billion six-month note, also via Salomon. Svensk Exportkredit did a ¥300 million trade and a ¥250 million trade, both with terms of 30 years. Earls Seven announced a ¥1 billion two-year-and-one-month deal.

Power reverse dual currency (PRDC) trades and CMS-linked notes were back as favourites in the yen market yesterday, after a couple of weeks of inverse step-up floating rate notes. Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten announced a ¥1 billion ($7.53 million) 20-year PRDC trade with Nomura as bookrunner. It is immediately linked to the Australian dollar-yen exchange rate, with a coupon of 8% multiplied by a certain time period, divided by 67.8 and minus 5%. Kommuninvest I Sverige did a ¥300 million 25-year PRDC deal with Mizuho as dealer. It pays an initial fixed coupon of 4% for the first year. The issuer also did another ¥300 million 25-year trade. Vorarlberger Landes- und Hypothekenbank did two trades. One was a ¥500 million 25-year note that pays an initial coupon of 4%. It is then linked to the Australian dollar-yen exchange rate and is callable after a year, semi-annually thereafter. Its other deal was a ¥500 million 30-year trade with the same structure, except for an initial fixed coupon of 5%. Also issuing 30-year deals was Kommunalbanken with an ¥800 million note that goes out to February 2032. Kokusai was the bookrunner. Hypo-Alpe Adria Bank announced its second trade of 2002: a ¥500 million 20-year deal with Credit Lyonnais as bookrunner. The note is CMS-linked (20-year rate minus the 6m ¥Libor rate). Oberosterreichische Landesbank also went for a CMS trade. The ¥900 million deal was led by Mizuho and goes out to February 2017. The first year's coupon is fixed at 2.5%, and then it is linked to the 20-year rate minus the two-year rate, plus 55 basis points. It is callable after the first year and annually thereafter. Eksportfinans self-led a ¥1.1 billion 20-year note. And Svensk Exportkredit did the day's biggest yen deal: a ¥2.07 billion six-month trade.

South Africa Absa Bank is looking for a one year rollover of its March 2001 $360m 364 day loan. The borrower has approached banks in the existing syndicate to negotiate the one year extension.

Lehman Brothers has set up a $9.7 billion asset-backed CP facility backed by Abbey National's paper. James Peterson, at Lehman Brothers's short-term ABS origination department, says: "This is an extremely innovative conduit - it is the first totally synthetic conduit and is the first vehicle to take advantage of a variety of new technologies available to sponsors." He continues: "This conduit is unique for several reasons: first the credit exposures are all done via a credit default swap. Second ,because the proceeds from the issuance of commercial paper are held in cash instruments, there is no need for a liquidity facility. This makes the conduit sympathetic to the proposed changes to the Basle Accord. The third benefit is the funded credit enhancement in the form of rated notes that were sold to market." The paper was signed on January 18 and the dealers are Abbey National Treasury Services, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers (also the arranger).

ABN Amro has underlined its confidence in the Asian semiconductor industry with the appointment of Eric Wang to the new position of head of client coverage for technology semiconductor firms in the region. Wang had been working in Taipei as head of global semiconductor research for ABN Amro equities. He has already moved to Hong Kong to take up his new role, at the level of senior vice president. The firm has yet to replace Wang in Taipei.