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Argentina Argentina aims to swap around $3bn of bonds by the end of May. They will include Brady bonds and other short-term debt in exchange for two new bond issues of five years and a tranche of between 10 years and 30 years.

DESPITE continued volatility on the Neuer Markt, equity issuance remains strong on the high growth exchange, with four IPOs this week and more in the pipeline. The Nemax all-share performance index fell throughout the week, reaching 5,963.8 by mid-morning yesterday (Thursday) - down 10% from 6,635.7 at the end of last week.

Iceland Morgan Stanley Dean Witter began bookbuilding for the $120m IPO of Iceland's Decode Genetics this week. The deal, which has Lehman Brothers as joint lead manager, has a range of $14-18 a share.

* Dresdner Kleinwort Benson has made Klaus-Michael Geiger global chief operating officer. His first task will be to transfer the ownership of the support functions to Dresdner Bank AG. He will be a member of the divisional executive committee reporting to chairman Leonhard Fischer. Geiger was previously co-head of global transaction banking.

* Commerzbank AG Rating: Aa3/AA-/AA-

United States Barclays Capital and WestLB are arranging $1.1bn of senior debt facilities for the FLAG Pacific-1 cable system.

DRESDNER Kleinwort Benson this week hired Andrew Pisker from BNP Paribas as head of global markets, the first successful move in the bank's effort to rebuild its debt markets operations since the collapse of the proposed merger with Deutsche Bank. Coming a month after former co-head of global markets TJ Lim's departure to Merrill Lynch, and the subsequent exodus of bankers from Dresdner's bond business, the hiring of Pisker is an essential step in rebuilding morale, as well as the German bank's debt markets team.

* Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank Rating: Aa3/A+/AA-

While Unilever is attempting to lure its US target Bestfoods into talks, following its $18.41bn cask offer, the banks poised to support the Anglo-Dutch company with a $20bn syndicated loan are hoping for a quick decision so they can proceed with syndication. There was talk this week that the arranging group reported in Euroweek last week, which consists of ABN Amro, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and UBS Warburg, might be extended to include another one or two more banks.

POHANG Iron & Steel (Posco), the Korean steel giant, returned to the international debt markets this week for the first time since mid-1997, with a ¥15bn three year Samurai issue lead managed by Nikko Salomon Smith Barney. Bankers agreed the deal's size and pricing ensured that most of the investor appetite was limited to the retail sector.

Finland Co-ordinating arranger Citibank, along with arrangers and fellow underwriters Chase Manhattan, Deutsche, MeritaNordbanken and SEB, have signed in the banks on the Eu1.5bn facility for Fortum.