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Did you take the time to read the major management changes announced by Morgan Stanley recently? Didn't this strike you as slightly odd? Why should Stanley, a house which likes to keep itself to itself and never open its laundry basket to the public, suddenly be reshuffling the pack before even the bonus payments have been made? The major international financial press did not help the situation by reporting the changes in such a fuzzy fashion that we were probably as confused as many EuroWeek readers. Had Joe Perella been promoted or pushed upstairs into a non-job? Was John Studzinski, head of investment banking for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Europe, dancing in the aisles after being made deputy chairman of Morgan Stanley International Inc? Was Sir David Walker, who has become rich beyond his wildest dreams after penury at the Bank of England and the Siberian saltmine of the SIB (very RIP thank heavens), being nudged quietly out to graze in forever green pastures?

New issuance dominated events this week in the sterling swap market. Barclays issued a £275m upper tier two perpetual, callable at 20 years, on Thursday, and was soon after spotted hitting bids at the 20 year maturity, said dealers. This business was sufficient to drive down spreads by some 2bp-3bp on the day, to leave the 20 year market at 108bp-105bp by the close yesterday.

BNP Paribas has made a number of changes and hires to its equity capital markets (ECM) group. "During the uncertain period," Howard Jones, global head of ECM, said: "when SG and BNP were both bidding for Paribas there were some departures from Paribas. These recruitments are partly to replenish that loss, but also to build and grow further than the level we were at before."

* Valtion asuntorahasto, the Housing Fund of Finland, will launch its fifth securitisation of loans to social housing providers today (Friday) or on Monday, via BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse First Boston and Leonia Corporate Bank. Fennica No 5 plc is believed to have found strong demand and is expected to be oversubscribed. Investors were attracted by the impeccable credit record of the Housing Fund's assets and by the virtual certainty that the notes will be redeemed as bullets on their expected maturities.

Nomura began roadshows this week for an innovative Eu1bn securitisation backed by Swedish residential mortgages originated by the Swedish National Housing Finance Corp (SBAB). In an extremely unusual move for a European securitisation, the deal will include a tranche in yen - and it may also become the first European ABS to be distributed on the internet.

ABN Amro launched Eu400m securitisation of its Dutch consumer loans last Friday through Amstel Consumer Loan Securitisation Co 2000-1 BV. The deal was structured for specific investors and priced with an unusually low coupon of one month Euribor plus 15bp with an average life of 5.9 years. It comprised a single tranche, rated double-A by all three agencies.

Lehman Brothers is preparing to launch an £84m securitisation for Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Really Useful Theatre Group, backed by 13 theatres in London's West End. The deal will refinance a loan made in January by Lehman's principal finance and securitisation group to finance the acquisition of 10 theatres from Stoll Moss Theatres. These venues were added to three owned by Lloyd-Webber's Really Useful Group to form a new company, The Really Useful Theatre Group (RUT).

The Black-Scholes model makes the assumption that volatility of the underlying is constant.