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Lehman Brothers is to take advantage of South Korea's positive story by setting up an office in Seoul, and has announced its first appointment, head of Korean equity research Yoon Yong Chul. Yoon will start in April from Goldman Sachs, where he covered Korea's banking sector. He also advised on the merger of Kookmin Bank and Housing & Commercial Bank, agreed in December last year.

*Royal Bank of Scotland plc Rating: Aa2/A/AA-

Russia's second largest oil company, Yukos, has appointed former UK foreign secretary Lord Owen as chairman of its London-based subsidiary, Yukos International UK. In his new role Lord Owen will focus on negotiations with European governments and prospective business partners, helping the company to expand outside Russia.

UBS Warburg has reshuffled its Asian management structure and also made a new appointment in Korea. Robin Tomlin is named vice chairman for the region, while Andrea Muller will take responsibility for the bank's Singaporean corporate finance business. Corporate finance executive directors David Chin and Steven Sun have also been promoted to managing directors, and Kwang Lee has been hired as a director in the bank's corporate finance division in Korea.

*Compagnie de Financement Foncier (CFF) Rating: Aaa/AAA/AAA

Bank of America, Royal Bank of Scotland and SG will sign banks into the £225m facility for Airtours today (Friday). The deal has been increased to £230m.

n Bank of Scotland Treasury Services plc Guarantor: Bank of Scotland

Austria Bank Austria, Citigroup/SSSB and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein have signed banks into the Eu500m revolver for OMV.

*Compagnie de Financement Foncier Rating: Aaa/AAA/AA

The structured finance market was unnervingly quiet at the start of 2002. In February the wires began to buzz with rumours of new issuers and the promise of excitement just round the corner. EuroWeek has conducted a straw poll of ABS bankers and analysts at investment banks in London to discover their views on where the market is headed after the slow start.

* MBNA is expected to launch MBNAS 2002-1 on Monday, a Eu750m securitisation of its US credit card portfolio. This will be the first issue from MBNA's US Master Note Trust. One triple-A tranche will be issued, rated by all three agencies. Official price talk is 24bp-25bp over mid-swaps for the 10 year fixed rate bullet notes. * Commerzbank is preparing to launch Provide Gems 2002-1 towards the end of next week or early the following week, a Eu1.052bn securitisation of residential mortgages for Rheinische Hypothekenbank.