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Before 1998, the Singapore dollar bond market was a cosy affair. A handful of banks raised money for local issuers, usually property companies, through private placements and in small sizes. It involved little fanfare and little risk.

Taking the Asian bond markets as a whole, it has been the domestic markets that have shown the most growth since the economic crisis of 1997, at the expense of the international dollar, yen and euro markets.

Thailand's bond market has grown rapidly since the May 1997 devaluation of the baht that plunged the region into economic crisis.

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Mike Reeber, global head of convertible bonds at Deutsche Bank in New York, is moving to Tokyo to become head of Asian equity derivatives. Rick Goldsmith, global co-head of equity derivatives in New York, said the move follows the departure of Masatoshi Inoue, who quit the world of banking to work for a software company in Seattle (DW, 4/23). Reeber will report to Goldsmith and Ralph Reynolds, global co-head of equity derivatives. Reeber and Reynolds were traveling and could not be reached. Nick Niell, head of international convertibles, will replace Reeber as global head of convertible bonds, according to a spokeswoman. Niell could not be reached.

Telecom credits that are taking a hit in the industry crash include McLeodUSA, which traded down to 74 before hitting 77 later this week. Level 3 traded down to 64, a credit that had been in the 80s just weeks ago. 360Networks is trading in the 19 range, after news broke that it had missed a bond payment a little more than a week ago and is the subject of Chapter 11 bankruptcy speculation. Superior TeleCom's bank debt is trading in the high 60s-low 70s, a drop from the 90s levels last summer. A $20 million chunk of Genesis Healthcare traded at 72, which is level to recent trades.

Scan a 10-Q filing and the words "derivatives" and "losses" tend to jump off the page and resonate in investors' minds in a way that the term "unrealized loss" does not, as General Electric discovered recently. GE's stock fell some 10% over the last 10 days of May in a move that some institutional investors say is attributable to the corporate having to disclose the fair value of derivatives on its balance sheet, in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board's accounting rule 133. For most corporates this is the first calendar year in which they must report derivatives positions under FAS 133.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has hired Mark Mallia, principal-fixed income at Morgan Stanley, as managing director and head of credit trading, Japan and non-Japan Asia in Tokyo. Yukiko Omura, managing director, head of global markets, Japan at Dresdner in Tokyo, said the firm plans additional hires. Dresdner started building up its credit derivatives operation earlier this year (DW, 2/18). Mallia, who joins Dresdner today, could not be reached for comment.

Goldman Sachs in Tokyo has landed Jackson Chou, a credit derivatives trader who recently left Morgan Stanley in Tokyo (DW, 6/11). Chou started at Goldman last week, covering non-Japan Asian credit derivatives at Goldman. He reports to Can Uran, executive director, global credit derivatives. Uran was traveling last week and could not be reached for comment.

Banca d'Intermediazione Mobiliare is considering setting up a credit derivatives operation which likely will start trading in "the near future," according to Elizabeth Tot, head of relative value trading in Milan. The bank is looking at trading European investment grade credit default swaps on both a proprietary and customer basis, she said, declining to outline what factors will determine whether it goes ahead. She added that narrowing bid/offer spreads resulting from improved liquidity have prompted the bank to consider entering the burgeoning market. Tot declined further comment.

Manulife Indonesia and HSBC recently gave a presentation on the benefits of using interest-rate swaps to the Ministry of Finance. Chris Bendl, managing director, investment and pension services at Manulife in Jakarta, said the company has been looking to tap the swaps market for some time to hedge its investment portfolio (DW, 6/19/00). He described the presentation as well received. Officials at the MoF and HSBC in Jakarta and could not be reached for comment.