The financial supply chain is an important concept for CFOs and treasurers to understand. However, it is one that they might be unfamiliar with, and certainly it is unlikely to be at the top of their agenda.

Appointment shows growing importance of Asia for business and for career growth.

Goldman Sachs has been fined what some might call a rather lenient amount, $2 million, for selling short an IPO pre-sale.

A wobble in China, a rapid sell-off in global equities, a flight to the safe haven of government bonds and the unwinding of carry trades were all evidence of a change in investors’ risk appetite starting in February and going through into March. The moves showed many things, including the interdependence not only of various currencies but also different asset classes. For a brief period, the path of global equity markets seemed to be dictated by what was going on in an intraday basis in spot sterling/yen.

The launch of LCDX and release of Isda documentation in Europe could revolutionize risk transfer.

Structured covered bond may be repeated by other German issuers.

But move would boost liquidity when volumes are falling.

According to Highland Capital, there are at least 13 new managers poised to bring their first CLO deals in Europe this year. Twenty-two new managers joined the market last year, doubling the size of the market in just 12 months. If the market keeps growing at this pace there will inevitably be some form of consolidation since competition for assets is already acute. Spanish savings bank Caja Madrid is currently marketing its first self-managed CLO, Neptuno. The US market continues to boom – 16 deals a month closed last year and so far in 2007 17 have been announced and 44 are ramping.

Hysterical headlines and wild index swings have disguised what is really going on in the world of home equity loan securitization.

Revenues at Instinet’s Asian business grew by an impressive 50% last year, double the growth in regional trading volumes. The electronic broker has ambitious plans to expand throughout the region this year, opening an office in Singapore, becoming the first remote member of the Australian Stock Exchange, and establishing a partnership in India to offer electronic direct market access. However, it is in its new adopted home of Japan that the broker is making its boldest moves.

Investors worry about lack of outside experience, lack of star quality and the temporary prefix.

"Japan’s companies had better make use of the advantage of being in the Asian region. The urgent task for them is to promote localization in Asia, in order to secure from European and US firms the fruits that this prospering economy brings forth"

The regulatory framework of Europe’s single payments system is effectively in place. But the details of implementation by banks and corporates are still a matter of debate.

The recent sell-off in global stock markets will not be a repeat of last May – a short correction leading to new highs. There is now more to worry about in the global economy and the liquidity cycle is at a turning point.

The bizarre decision by Moody’s to grant Aaa status to a rag-tag assortment of obscure Nordic credits has put the raters in the spotlight. The relationship between the rating agencies and the big investment banks should also come under scrutiny.

The Euromoney investment banking champions league game table is taking shape, and after a bloody back and forth at the top, Citi has put daylight between itself and its nearest competitor, BNP Paribas.

Relics of a troubled past are soon going to be put behind Mexican glass company Vitro, which has just completed a total debt refinancing. Chloe Hayward speaks to CFO Alvaro Rodríguez about his company’s rocky past and shiny future.

Too many banks are chasing too few fees.

"Actually, I just pitched one of those today," says a debt capital markets banker when asked whether he detected developing interest among emerging market clients in toggle notes.

With growth surging ahead and inflation high, some analysts have voiced their concerns that the Egyptian economy is getting ahead of itself.

ABN merger may give global scale, but at what cost to the businesses that have driven the UK bank forward?

Abu Dhabi investment vehicle builds global partnerships.

The sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US will feed through to mortgage markets elsewhere as share prices plummet and borrowing costs soar.

Cross-border activity to increase, say participants.

More real estate companies have come to the market in the past two months than in the past two years.

Bankers’ growing interest in environment-friendly financial opportunities can only be a good thing – whatever their motivation.

As the deal between US-based Lyondell Chemical and Saudi Arabia’s National Titanium Dioxide (Cristal) closes so Saudi Arabian merger and acquisition activity looks set to increase further, and to cover more types of business, in 2007.

Latin American markets have proved to be a fine investment in recent years, although not, it seems, for Mexican private pension fund managers. Pension funds, afores as they are locally known, are coming under increasing scrutiny for failing to provide the kind of stellar returns posted in Chile and Peru, despite new freedoms to diversify investments.

Havens Advisors’ hedge funds focus on merger arbitrage, high-yield bonds and distressed debt. Helen Avery speaks to founder Nancy Havens about the opportunities in high-yield.

In recent years success in the financial services industry has been predicated on two main strategies: first, taking on significant if not massive proprietary risk, a strategy as old as the hills; second, underwriting risk positions and using the capital markets to exit. This is an even more well-established feature of the most successful investment banking operations.