In buying MBNA at the end of June, Bank of America pulled off a headline-grabbing deal. At $35 billion in stock and cash, it's the second-largest financial services deal since JPMorgan Chase bought Bank One last year and the second-largest deal overall this year after Procter &Gamble's purchase of Gillette. It was brokered largely by BoA chairman and CEO Kenneth Lewis, who in a matter of days stole one of the most prized monoline credit card companies from under the noses of such rival banks as Wachovia.

"£875m for The Priory! Why buy it? Maybe they have a view on the secular growth in the bulimic market"

Banks seek more tools to serve growing asset management clientbase on FXall

End of an era

The squeezing of grandfathered covered bonds last month has left issuers pondering how they can guarantee the liquidity of their product

Was it Abbey that prompted the Bank of Spain to level the playing field?

The CME and CBOT look to be the most likely candidates for a tie-up, despite their long-standing rivalry

As cross-border acquisition grows, global banks must establish the right local presence

Most surprising acquisition of the month

There should be no false patriotism over whether it is appropriate to finance outside the domestic currency

The German bank has nothing to lose

Global consultancy and software provider Anvil has seized the opportunity to become the first company to design a cross-asset margining tool. In essence, the new system, dubbed Anvil Margin, will help traders, middle offices and back offices to manage collateral more effectively by operating on a multi-asset class basis. "This new product has been driven by emerging trends in the industry," says Phil Buck, CEO of North America at Anvil. "Market participants are becoming far more focused on cross-asset margining, for the simple reason that it's more efficient."

Bank of America grows FX sales force

Unsecured debt markets are still open for GMAC and Ford

Online information provider is proving to be a big hit

Launches trading tool to complement existing spot service

Big stride taken towards gaining investment-grade status

Lula remains favourite for second term

Rumour mill grinds on as Temasek invests in CCB

Soul from Seoul wows the rest of Asia

Prime minister faces growing discontent in coalition

Taiwan: merger of equals kicks off consolidation

Big-three providers must face up to new competitors and internalization

G8 agreement could spur development

Government remains committed to reforms

Deutsche Bank's disposal of its UK asset management business (DeAM UK) and Philadelphia-based active fixed-income business to Aberdeen Asset Management will be a great relief to the bank's senior board members. The UK unit has been in dire straits in the past two years, haemorrhaging staff and losing a series of pension fund mandates. In 2004 alone, the businesses sold made losses of £77 million ($135 million).

Money flowing into company and private pension plans in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to increase rapidly, creating new opportunities for fund managers.

Euronext and Borsa Italiana take majority stake in MTS platform

Retail demand

Investors in convertibles could benefit from synthetic convertible bonds being made more accessible