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Standard Chartered Bank is looking to become the first bank to offer over-the-counter options on the Indian rupee. "We want to be the pioneer in bringing rupee options to India," said Madhav Shankar, manager of derivative products in Mumbai. He believes there is strong corporate interest in using currency options to hedge U.S. dollar exposure, declining to name companies it has approached. StanChart plans to approach the Reserve Bank of India for approval, Shankar said, declining to put a timeframe on the move.

Market observers reacted coolly to last month's announcement of a merger between three of Taiwan's largest state banks, Bank of Taiwan, Land Bank of Taiwan and Central Trust of China. In an Asiamoney straw poll, "window dressing," was the phrase most used by analysts to describe the government-inspired move. While that might seem an odd choice of words for a merger that will create a bank with a 20% share of the Taiwan banking market (in terms of deposits), it illustrates few are confident that the merger will improve the state of the industry any time soon. Clearly in line with market thinking, Standard & Poor's downgraded its credit rating for Bank of Taiwan just two days before the merger plan was formally announced.

Taiwan's Depositary Receipts (DR) market was reopened last month by Sunplus Technologies' first foray into the international equity markets, a US$191.4 million global depository receipt (GDR) arranged by UBS Warburg. The Sunplus deal is the first Taiwanese DR in six months. UBS Warburg attempted to place Sunplus in the market in September last year, says a Taipei-based banker, but the plan had to be shelved because of the rapid decline in high tech stock values.

Its still early days for the Asian derivatives market. A fragmented regulatory regime and tardy market liberalization are just two of the obstacles to its development. Nonetheless, banks are upbeat about the sector, especially about the potential of the China market. Joy Lee reports.

The Malaysian state-owned electricity company Tenaga Nasional Berhad has completed a deal to replace just over half of its shortest-dated debt with 10-year financing. The deal involved two interlinked parts; a new US$600 million 10-year bond offer, and a cash tender offer for existing Tenaga short-dated bonds, consisting of US$300 million of 7.2% notes due on April 29, 2007, which have a put option in April 2002, and $600 million of 7.875% bonds due on June 15 2004. The size of the 10-year bond was not initially fixed, but depended on the level of redemption of the shorter dated bonds, given that the 10-year issue was not primarily designed to raise new finance, but to replace the two outstanding bonds, so as to increase the overall maturity of Tenaga's outstanding debt. The tender price was set at 120 basis points (bps) over for the 2004 bonds and 80 bps over for the puttable 2002. The tender offer was launched just slightly ahead of the bond offer, and to provide the 10-year bond's joint lead managers, Lehman Brothers, HSBC, and CIMB, with an early idea of interest in the tender, the tender offer's deal managers, Lehman and HSBC, effectively penalized investors participating after the first 10 days of the 20-day tender period (a period mandated by SEC regulations), by offering them 3% less. Because it was considered attractively priced, the tender take-up was above what HSBC and Lehman had expected, with 53% of the outstandings redeemed, worth US$479 million at par value, for which Tenaga paid around US$517 million. The Baa3/BBB rated power company then launched a US$500 million Rule 144a Regulation S 10-year global bond issue. The issue size was then increased to US$600 million, and priced at 99.594, with a coupon of 7.625%, to yield 295 bps over US Treasuries.

Thailand's new government has announced the setting up of a Thai Asset Management Corporation to sort out the country's banking problems once and for all. But does the Bt1.35 trillion scheme adequately address the legal and structural issues that are at the heart of the NPL problem? By Ben Davies.

Malaysia is no longer an attractive proposition for fund managers. In fact it's a dirty word. Will the introduction of new corporate governance codes on June 1 – the strictest in Asia – restore faith in the country's companies? Or have foreign investors simply had enough? Matthew Montagu-Pollock reports.

Malaysia is no longer an attractive proposition for fund managers. In fact it's a dirty word. Will the introduction of new corporate governance codes on June 1 – the strictest in Asia – restore faith in the country's companies? Or have foreign investors simply had enough? Matthew Montagu-Pollock reports.

Australia's government has put considerable effort into promoting the country as a global financial centre. Yet its top blue chips are intent on exploring financial opportunities elsewhere. With a rash of home-grown companies opting for dual listings and others weighing up overseas domicile, could Australia instead be facing the spectre of a branch office economy? Fiona Haddock reports.

Talkshow host, financial publisher and website guru Wimar Witoelar was on the point of retirement late last year when he got the call from Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid. The beleaguered leader was desperate for a trustworthy press spokesman to improve his image. Asiamoney lunches with the man behind one of the most challenging spin jobs in the world.

HSBC regains its crown as the leading foreign exchange house in the region – but its perennial rival Citibank remains the most respected derivatives bank. By Olivia Chow and Robert Law.

Kenton Farrow is head of the Australian Financial Markets Association and the Securities and Derivatives Industry Association – a division of responsibilities that is unique in the world's financial markets. He insists there's no conflict and that this is the way of the future. By Chris Wright.