The first wave of easy returns on commodities has passed, while allocations continue to grow. Traditional players are having adapt to a much more liquid market, swimming with a new breed of investors and their active hedging strategies. Peter Koh examines the changes.

There has been a lot of talk about the use of computerized trading in foreign exchange. Discussions at a recent seminar in London suggest that there is real substance, not just hot air, behind the chat.

SuperDerivatives, an option pricing, trading and risk management company, has added a glossary of funky financial terms to its website.

Venezuela’s president is planning to buy assets in Uruguay, according to the local media. Hugo Chávez is considering investing in Pluna, a small Uruguayan airline, through a state-owned Venezuelan airline. Conviasa is mulling over buying Brazilian airline Varig’s 49% stake in the Uruguayan outfit.

HK euphoria hit by rapid short circuit

Deutsche Bank has reshuffled the pack in two of its Latin American operations. In Brazil, it has appointed Alexandre Aoude as managing director and country manager. He succeeds Roger Karam, who has become a member of the bank’s advisory board in the country. Jose Miguel Alcalde is Deutsche’s new country manager for Chile. He succeeds Rodrigo Pérez, who is retiring from the firm.

The latest public finance initiative funding for UK defence ministry accommodation is Aspire Defence Finance plc, which was launched in late March, via Citigroup and HSBC. The £1.8 billion ($3.14 billion) transaction involves two series of monoline insurance-wrapped fixed-rate notes – series A wrapped by Ambac and series B by MBIA. The triple underlying credit is rated BBB/Baa3.

Are hedge fund databases trustworthy...

Urban Vietnamese are leaping on the capitalist bandwagon, driving it as fast as they can in an effort to build a lead on the foreign companies that will inevitably tap a burgeoning market.

The UAE capital markets received a boost last month when National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) issued a Dh2.5 billion ($680 million) tier 2 convertible bond through a private placement. It is the first time this type of hybrid security has been issued in the UAE.

CLSA rebrands and beefs up its private equity operation.

Freddie Mac’s new treasurer, Tim Bitsberger, marks a break with agency tradition in being an outsider. But he reckons his US Treasury experience can only enhance Freddie’s transparent approach to raising money and its stringent risk management standards. Bitsberger’s hope is that these will serve it well as it builds out its retained portfolio again. Kathryn Tully reports.

Dealers say the backlog of unconfirmed credit default swap trades has been reduced by 54% since September 2005. The New York Fed is asking for a further reduction by the end of June this year. How near is the market to having an infrastructure able to cope with massive growth and a broadening of the uses of CDS? Helen Avery reports.

Treat your back-office staff well lest they take umbrage and run away to a hedge fund.

The US hybrid market has suffered a setback following a recent NAIC ruling.

Euromoney meets the chief executive of a specialist financial services firm recently bought out by management. Such deals are rare in a sector where most participants are inherently leveraged through their day-to-day operations. Is the firm’s capital structure not now rather strained? Not at all, says the CEO. It could ask its backers or other third parties for more money tomorrow and get as much as it wanted. Raising money isn’t the problem. Almost anyone can get funding right now. Identifying the right investments to build the business – that’s the tough part.

Further reformis essential if the region’s stock exchanges are to come under the steadying influence of institutional investors.

It’s a good job that many US investment banks have had such a strong first quarter. They need the cash to keep the regulators at bay.

Finance minister’s resignation leaves investors feeling cautious.

While rivals’ share prices roar ahead, Citigroup’s languishes. Investors love stocks that are easy to understand. So is it time for Citi to develop a clearer strategy?

The $67 billion AT&T/BellSouth merger catapults Evercore and Rohatyn up the league tables.

Chief executive of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange thinks pressure is building for exchange-traded model.

“Oh, these are among the most toxic instruments we’ve created. And they’re absolutely a bull market instrument. In a bear market, it’s not a question of maybe losing just a percentage point. You can lose 10 points in a heartbeat.”

HSBC is in the vanguard of foreign banks’ invasion of China and its partnership with Bank of Communications means that it is well positioned to expand. Chris Leahy speaks to HSBC’s China chief and his counterpart at Bocom about their businesses and the way they are working together.

The ECB’s March 2 rate rise is contra-indicated by the prevailing data, which are apparently distrusted by the central bankers. In their view, recovery is well established in eurozone countries.

“I see you have the same problem as in my country: prostitutes everywhere!”

In a sign that Kazakhstan is set to become increasingly visible on investors’ radar screens, a new investment bank has been set up there to offer a full range of corporate finance and brokerage services.

But standard documentation and eight dealers’ involvement might not be sufficient to spark investor interest.

As if investment banks didn’t compete enough with each other already, London-based employees of Barclays Capital, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley couldn’t resist the opportunity to swap pinstripes for cricket whites in the chill of February for what has been billed the City Indoor Cricket Championship, held in Docklands.

Three stalwarts of the European RMBS market have recently established medium-term note programmes, a sign of the cost savings that such shelf issuance can offer. ABN Amro issued a €3.9 billion partial synthetic transaction from its European Mortgage Securities Compartment vehicle, backed by loans to employees or former employees of the bank. And two non-conforming lenders have also established multi-issuance programmes: GMAC RFC has established RMAC Securities with an inaugural £1.2 billion ($2.1 billion) deal and Mortgages plc with its £575 million launch issue. The Mortgages plc platform is called Newgate Funding, and has been arranged by parent Merrill Lynch.