Participants at Global Investor/isf’s tri-party roundtable debate the effects of the ECB’s long term refinancing operations, the impact of Basel III and the regulatory drive for transparency

Convertible bonds as an asset class had one of the worst years in their history in 2008. Many of the losses were attributed to forced selling by highly leveraged hedge funds and the proprietary trading desks of investment banks. But these instruments are poised for a comeback. Joseph Mariathasan reports.

Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) provider, iShares has experienced exceptionally large gross trading volumes, reaching more than €25 billion in trading of its European listed ETFs versus €15 billion in September 2007.

Deutsche Bank Exchange Traded Funds (db x-trackers) have raised more than €15 billion of assets in 18 months since the platforms launch in January 2007.

Vodia Group has released a new report covering trading and custody in frontier markets. The report reveals that the frontier markets are up 7% over the last year, compared to -23% for developed markets and -10% for emerging markets. Africa is up 24% for the last 12 months.

Interdealer broker ICAP has announced that it has expanded the range of securities available on its electronic securities lending platform i-Sec to include exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded commodities (ETCs).

Bear Stearns Asset Management has introduced the Bear Stearns Current Yield Fund (YYY) onto the American Stock Exchange.