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.

Prime minister faces growing discontent in coalition

Commerzbank Corporates and Markets is tackling the conundrum of how to finance the Mittelstand by setting up the first Schuldschein securitization programme. Commerzbank will pool the two- to five-year, €500,000 to €5 million funding needs of different small and middle-size German enterprises to create securitizable portfolios. It launched the origination phase on July 8, and expects the first ABS issues next year.

Smart investors seek out the SARs

Launches trading tool to complement existing spot service

Global M&A volume was up 39% to $1.4 trillion in the first half of the year. However, revenues only increased 13%, further evidence of the fact that M&A advisory is not the guaranteed meal ticket it used to be.

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

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

The Italian state's packaging of a fund of official property confirms the treasury's reputation for innovation

Euronext and Borsa Italiana take majority stake in MTS platform

Retail demand

Sooner or later credit tiering will return to a structured credit market that for too long has failed to reflect differentiation in the underlying assets, deals' performance or servicer record. That's the theory anyway. Recent events, though, suggest that spreads and market sentiment remain remarkably resilient to all but the worst news. When non-conforming residential mortgage-backed securities market leader Kensington Group unveiled disappointing performance data and the use of the reserve account on RMS 15 & 16 it had an immediate impact.

A new breed of fund manager is shaking up Japanese markets

Visual technology to change the way financial communities react to events in the market

Bank of America grows FX sales force

But credit tranche activity has held up despite the GMAC fallout

We have the tools to develop much more coherent and flexible financial markets. But it will only happen if a spirit of openness is maintained, says Philippe Buhannic.

Citigroup's TreasuryVision is answering the challenge of putting PepsiCo's disparate global cashflows, emanating from 1,000 bank accounts, on a real-time system.

What price the prince?

UBS has dispelled the notion that investment bank CEO successions must be messy, vindictive battles. When John Costas handed over in June to Huw Jenkins, his global head of equities, it was the culmination of almost a year of planning. It was a fitting end to a successful term for Costas, and Jenkins's appointment recognized UBS's success in equities. Euromoney speaks to both men about Costas's legacy and what Jenkins plans to do next.

Copenhagen is costly, but to great effect. Spend a bit, drink a bit and you'll end up enjoying a tradition of companionship, cosiness and conviviality. But Danes aren't inward-looking. They've stuck with their national currency, though many still favour regional integration.

Are the days of a CEO numbered? It's now estimated that the average period in office for FTSE 100 chief executives has fallen over the past 12 months to 4.6 years, according to on-line financial broadcaster Cantos. It's a worrying statistic when you look at stalwarts like Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP, who has been in office since 1986.

There were red faces all around at Taiwan broker Fubon Securities after it was forced to admit a mind-numbingly banal trading blunder that caused massive confusion in the stock market and left the firm nursing a loss of almost US$15 million.

In the past few years, GMAC's mortgage-related businesses have become increasingly stymied by the ill-favoured rating environment of their immediate parent and GM. It was time to find a way out.

Banks are spending more to remain competitive, but with so many firms to choose from how can they be sure a vendor will understand their needs? Euromoney's second financial technology users' survey has some answers.

Private banking is an increasingly cut-throat business and there are few lengths to which private bankers will not go to pamper their clients. That might explain the curious press release that landed in Euromoney's mailbox from JPMorgan Private Bank in Hong Kong, announcing the firm's summer reading list for clients.

Government remains committed to reforms

The UK Debt Management Office has put a brave face on the disappointing response to its issue of 50-year gilts in mid-July. The DMO, in its second sale of these ultra-long bonds, sold £2.25 billion worth; but the sale drew bids of just 1.23 times the amount on offer, the smallest cover for any conventional gilt auction since the creation of the DMO in 1998. The DMO reintroduced the 50-year gilt in May after a break of more than 40 years. The result was particularly surprising in the light of the supposedly enormous gap between the supply of long-dated assets and the demand for them. Changes to pension fund regulation in Europe – Spain is the latest in a growing line of reformers – as well as increased pensioner longevity are forcing trustees to look hard at their asset/liability matching. In addition, there is a growing belief that the last 30 to 40 years, in which inflation has been high by historical standards and equities have been the logical asset in which to invest, have been some kind of blip.

John Costas speaks to Euromoney about the achievements of UBS's investment bank during his tenure as chief executive and the legacy he leaves to his successor.

An end in sight for high-level M&A in Russia's oil and gas sector