Cynics might argue that the US and Russia are leading villains in the global warming piece. But financial Realpolitik suggests that the world’s biggest polluter and Europe’s most polluted country have key roles to play in the fight to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

One man not joining the cult of Chávez is Latin America’s richest man, Carlos Slim.

Focus should be on monetary and wage policy, says Redrado.

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Deutsche Bank, in conjunction with VTB Bank Austria and VTB Bank, has launched the first rated CDO of CIS corporates.

For the funds, there are lots of advantages: diversification of funding sources; the ability to invest in less-liquid opportunities; and the power to raise more AUM. But do investors understand what they are buying? Helen Avery reports.

With gross public debt more than 170% of GDP and domestic investors increasingly diversifying overseas, the country is keen to attract foreign investors, even as it struggles to reduce government bond issuance and stave off roll-over risk. Hiroshi Watanabe, Japan’s vice-minister of finance for international affairs, speaks to Peter Lee about Japan’s funding policy and broader economic prospects.

Industry-owned utility ponders fundamental change to business model.

Asian private banks are continuing to visit the wilder shores of alternative investments. Chris Wright reports.

Alan Patterson, head of the financial institutions group at Citi, is moving on from origination to a new role of capital management advisory. He will report to Valentin Ehmer, who runs the fixed income and derivatives product group.

SG CIB takes its cue from collateralized loan obligation securitization.

The foundation on which Ferrovial built its acquisition of BAA was its securitization exit. But nearly a year after the buyout, the refinancing is nowhere to be seen. Louise Bowman finds out what’s happening.

ABN Amro has taken Richard Zirps out of Lehman Brothers and made him head of FIG capital markets for Austria and Germany based in London. He reports to Steve Curry, European head of FIG capital markets.

Let Hoteloc be a warning on the risks in short tail period.

The good times might be back in Asia’s markets for foreign investment banks. Alas, though, the feel-good factor does not appear to have reached French bank BNP Paribas.

Armeconombank is looking to chart new territory for Armenian banks with an international equity offering.

Eisuke Sakakibara is known as Mr Yen for the influence of his pronouncements on Japan’s currency and was Japan’s vice-minister for finance for international affairs from 1997 to 1999. An internationalist famed for making key policy speeches in English, he argues in this interview with Tetsuya Shibata that Japanese companies must become more outward-looking to prosper.

Dubai’s investment agencies might not have the scale of their counterparts from other parts of the Middle East but they are becoming voracious buyers of assets. Who are they and what are their plans? Sudip Roy and Simon Brady profile the people and strategies behind Dubai International Capital and Istithmar as they join the ranks of the world’s most powerful investors.

UK and continental European investors snapped up shares in Chagala Group, the leading property developer in oil-rich western Kazakhstan, enabling it to raise $120 million through an IPO on the main market in London last month.

Long overdue fiscal prudence and a rising economic tide have presented the Philippines with its best chance in decades for sustainable economic growth. Chris Leahy reports.

Energy development and production have vast and growing capital needs that offer opportunities for investment banks. Add in commodity risk management as well as carbon trading and the prospects look even more glittering. Peter Koh reports, while a new survey shows which banks are leading the way.

Anxiety rippled through the UK credit market when the UK’s top non-conformist mortgage lender, Kensington Group, said it was considering a sale to a US bank. Roger James explains why.

Anyone who is anyone in the FX market wants to put up a good showing in the annual Euromoney survey – it is widely accepted as the most accurate gauge of how a bank’s business is doing. In some cases, it is rumoured that success in the poll is even more important than growth in revenues.

Lebanese banks have maintained a comfortable financial position despite last year’s Israeli attack and a continuing stand-off between Hizbollah and the government. However, the macroeconomic situation is far from rosy, not least because the country has the world’s highest debt-to-GDP ratio. James Drummond reports from Beirut.

Aston Martin announced the start of a new chapter in its financing history as the sports car manufacturer agreed its leveraged buyout to a consortium of investors led by sports car veteran David Richards.

Are present market conditions a threat or opportunity for permanent capital vehicles in structured finance?

Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank, announced in March a further relaxation of foreign exchange regulations designed to normalize trading in the Malaysian ringgit.

Are Iranian banks based in London an unwitting victim of political tensions in the Gulf, as US authorities try to limit their access to international finance?

In less than four years Istithmar, the investment arm of conglomerate Dubai World, has become one of the most influential private and public equity and real estate financiers in the world. Its blue-chip holdings include Time Warner, Standard Chartered Bank and large swathes of Manhattan real estate. Sudip Roy reports from Dubai on how the fund has risen to prominence so quickly.

Recent equity market upheavals are presenting new challenges and opportunities for volatility and correlation traders. With the downturn in markets that kicked off at the end of February came a massive jump in short-dated implied volatility. The Chicago Board Option Exchange’s Vix index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 index options and represents the market’s expectations of volatility over the next 30 days, jumped almost 80%, increasing from about 10% to 18%. Volatility in other major equity markets, such as the Eurostoxx, also jumped, as did equity market correlation. The 30-day realized correlation level on the Eurostoxx 50 doubled from just under 20% to 40%. Immediately before the downturn, volatility and correlation had been trading at historically low levels.