Crédit Lyonnais builds up credit derivatives capability in Tokyo

French bank Crédit Lyonnais intends to develop its credit derivatives activity in Japan, with two new hires, one internal transfer and possibly one further hire, said Edward Willems, head of credit derivatives in Tokyo.

Set up since March 1, the desk now includes Adam Durran, who was hired from Barclays Capital, Yoichi Oyamada, who joined from WestLB, and Alexis Grzanka, who was transferred internally from the global institutional investors unit within Crédit Lyonnais in Tokyo.

The three will take on responsibilities similar to those they had previously, with Durran on the trading side and Oyamada and Grzanka on the structuring side of the business.

“We believe very strongly in the Japanese [credit derivatives] market,” Willems said. He added that Crédit Lyonnais is not interested in plain vanilla derivatives, but will rather focus on more exotic products, such as synthetic transactions and other second generation credit derivatives. Crédit Lyonnais’s Tokyo team is preparing to launch a global arbitrage synthetic collateralised debt obligation within a month.

The French bank’s new credit derivatives desk in Tokyo comes amid efforts to boost its derivatives capability throughout the region, with new hires in Hong Kong, Taipei and Mumbai.