Credit default swaps have made a lot news for their heady growth. Indeed, the market had a nominal value of $34.5 trillion last year. But that's small compared to the interest rate derivatives market, which was valued at $285 trillion last year. Globally, that has draw in lots of competitors and put a lot of pressure on margins. And in recent years anyway, there have been signs that profits from equity and credit derivatives were much stronger. So there's a lot of pressure, which has companies scrambling a bit. Merrill Lynch seems intent on building up and has made a few choice hires from Deutsche Bank. There's been a lot of recruiting and raiding.

For more on Merrill:
- here's an article from Investment Dealers' Digest (for FierceFinance readers)