Hermann Watzinger, the European head of credit derivatives at Salomon Smith Barney, has defected along with a three-man team to Merrill Lynch, where he will head a new trading desk for structured credit products.

Joining Watzinger are Mahesh Bulchandani, Adam Clayton and Burkhard Heppe. The move brings to 12 the number of credit derivatives traders now working out of Merrill's London office under Dale Lattanzio, head of European credit derivative trading.