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Foreign fund managers have recently been putting on bond versus swap spread plays in the Singapore dollar-denominated market to take advantage of an expected widening in the spread between the term repo rate and swap spreads. "It's one of the oldest trades in the book," said Bryan Yap, head of interest-rate swaps, Asia, at Deutsche Bank in Singapore, noting that its only recently become feasible in the local market. Interest-rate swappers declined to detail the notional size of typical transactions and Yap could not be reached for comment on this point.

A former Salomon Smith Barney co-head of Latin American equity derivatives has won USD550,000 in a New York Stock Exchange arbitration claim that the firm did not pay an agreed bonus and wrongfully terminated him. Ricardo Litvak, who now works at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a subsidiary of Credit Suisse First Boston, claimed SSB "induced him to take a job, but did not pay the agreed upon compensation," according to the NYSE arbitration decision. Litvak also claimed the firm took credit for his investment ideas and wrongfully terminated him, the decision states. The claim, filed March 3, 1999, sought compensatory damages for more than USD1.5 million, plus punitive damages, costs and fees, according to the arbitration decision.

Jean-Marie Barreau, a senior equity derivatives marketer at Société Générale in New York, has left the firm. He was head of equity derivatives marketing and sales before he was assigned to set up an office for equity derivatives marketing to high-net-worth individuals in San Francisco, according to an official at the firm. Barreau left the firm last month and could not be reached.

Bankgesellschaft Berlin plans to issue structured notes with embedded over-the-counter equity options aimed at German corporates looking to earn an above money market interest-rate and are willing to take on market risk. Karsten Hesser, senior trader in the structured retail and institutional products group in Berlin, said the notes will give investors either an above market interest-rate or upside participation in the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50.

HVB Capital Asia Ltd., the securities arm of HypoVereinsbank in Tokyo, is considering establishing an equity derivatives desk by early next year. Mike Nagata, head of trading in Tokyo, said that as a securities firm, equity derivatives is a product it needs to offer. He added that as the government pushes through reforms Japanese firms will look to unwind cross-equity holdings via the use of derivatives.

Italian Investment bank MPS Finance is pricing a EUR352 million (USD300 million) hybrid collateralized debt obligation referenced partly to banca poploare di spoleto's loan portfolio. Giacomo Corsini, head of sales at MPS Finance in Siena, said spoleto's loan portfolio was diversified using credit default swaps to make it more attractive to investors and now 46% of it consists of credit default swaps. He added the 10-year deal will hit the market Monday.

KBC Financial Products plans to offer guaranteed funds on baskets of hedge funds to retail customers after the summer. Thomas Korossy, head of derivatives in New York, said in May it started offering options on baskets of hedge funds to institutional investors and is passing the final hurdles to offer similar options--structured as funds--to retail customers.

Nationalized banks in India, which make up roughly 80% of the country's banking sector, are starting to show interest in long-dated Indian rupee interest-rate derivatives for the first time, said Tarun Mohrotri, treasurer at HSBC in Mumbai.

Korea's Asiana Airlines is looking to enter interest-rate swaps to hedge floating interest-rate exposure on its U.S. dollar-denominated loan portfolio. C.S. Han, general manager-finance, said the airline wants to take advantage of current low interest rates. It has already hedged 40% of its U.S. dollar interest rate exposure over the past year, and plans to hedge the remaining USD1.3 billion of its dollar denominated liabilities.

Mexican peso/U.S. dollar implied volatility rocketed last week as currency options traders used the Mexican unit as a proxy for the Brazilian real and the Argentinean peso after the credit market forced the Argentine government to pay 14 interest on three-month paper in a bond auction last Tuesday. The move underscored a collapse in confidence in the Argentine peso's peg to the dollar.