Grupo Santander, winner of Euromoney’s award for best bank in Latin America, has revealed plans to double its Latin American banking business with a $4 billion investment over the next three years. The region is a cash cow for Santander, which realized $787 million of profits in the first quarter, a 47% increase.

The results of Euromoney’s inaugural structured credit poll provide an invaluable insight into what is often an impenetrable sector of the capital markets.

Complacency can lead to extinction according to Goldman Sachs’s key principles. The extent to which its bankers take that tenet to heart was amply demonstrated at Euromoney’s inaugural Asia Awards for Excellence in July [see Asia awards 2006 for more on the event]. As guests arrived for the pre-dinner cocktail reception, one sharp-eyed Goldman banker spotted an unfamiliar but evidently important dignitary entering the room, accompanied by an impressive entourage of aides and hangers-on.

Bahrain is experiencing a mutual fund boom, according to the Bahrain Monetary Authority, which says assets under management by BMA-authorized mutual funds have grown by 55% to $8.3 billion in the past year.

When three industry trade bodies join forces to issue a joint statement in response to regulatory proposals it’s clear that they are taking the matter very seriously.

SpencerLake has joined HSBC as global head of debt capital markets after 17 years at Merrill Lynch. Lake had only recently been appointed to a newly created role of head of debt capital markets for the Asia-Pacific region at Merrill. He will be based in London and manage HSBC’s 250-strong origination team. He reports to Daniel Palmer, head of global capital markets.

Building materials company Lafarge has become the first French issuer to issue an SEC-registered deal for five years. But despite the ease with which it did this it seems unlikely many will follow its example.

You always need seat 1A, unless you’ve got a private jet. Your hotel room has to be just so. You’ve got a British Airways black card. Then you’re a travel diva, as Abigail Hofman knows only too well.

Outstanding achievement award: Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow, Public Bank, Malaysia

If equity investors paid closer attention to what is going on in parts of the bond market they could avoid kneejerk reactions to what is essentially old news.

“I’d rather put needles in my eyes than give you a mandate!”

Acquisition financing can always run into difficulties, as Axa found out to its cost last month when it printed its €2.25 billion equivalent hybrid debt deal at the high-water mark of volatility. The deal, which financed the purchase of Winterthur from Credit Suisse, was adversely affected by weak equity markets, high hybrid supply and by a surprise announcement by Generali that it would borrow an addition €1.2 billion of hybrid for an acquisition.

Results from the fourth semi-annual surveys of foreign exchange volume, published simultaneously by the US Foreign Exchange Committee (FXC) and UK Foreign Exchange Joint Standing Committee (JSC), show that the market is continuing to expand strongly.

Reuters and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have announced the financial institutions that have confirmed their intention of participating in their joint venture, FXMarketSpace’s Early Adopter Program.

Electronic options market to open cash equity business in the third quarter.

73 the percentage of retail investors who expect the FTSE 100 to end the year higher than its present level, according to a survey conducted by share-trading website ADVFN.

What’s to be expected from a for-profit monopoly?

Keeps lucrative business and becomes an exchange with formal SEC approval.

The Squadra Azzura won the World Cup last month after a shaky start and by steadily improving their performance. It’s a stark contrast to the development of the Italian hedge fund industry. Italy rode the wave of hedge fund expansion by introducing regulation as early as 1999. As a result, growth has been strong. Italian funds now manage €18.3 billion, more than 5% of total hedge fund assets invested in Europe.

By Zach Fuchs

According to TaraCapital’s summer barometer of European investors, demand for long/short equity strategies, particularly those offered by Japan and Europe funds, has fallen. More investors plan to reduce than increase their exposure to European long/short equities. Instead, investor appetite is growing for relative value, CTA and multi-strategy hedge funds.

EFG Private Bank has bought English traditional private client stockbroker Harris Allday, adding £2 billion in assets under management for the UK and Channel Islands. Harris Allday’s 27 client relationship officers will be absorbed into EFG but will trade as EFG Harris Allday.

Investors who might have hoped that their allocations to hedge funds would have provided some relief from falling equity markets in June must have been disappointed. The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index underperformed the broad equity market that month, falling 0.23 percentage points, a performance that was slightly worse than the 0.16 point fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the same period, and much worse than the 0.14 point rise in the S&P500.

“As you can see, we’re keeping our operating expenses down,” jokes Nigel Harris, CEO of New Philanthropy Capital, as he ushers Euromoney into a cramped and bare meeting room in its LondonBridge office. It’s probably a far cry from the plush quarters to which he was accustomed in his investment banking days at Schroders but such frugality seems appropriate to his new role at a firm that seeks to galvanize the charitable sector. By providing detailed analysis of charities to donors, New Philanthropy Capital hopes to help them direct their money where it will be best used. “We want money to be better allocated,” says Martin Brookes, head of research, “and then hopefully the realization that this is happening will encourage more people to give.”

Henderson Global Investors wants to be taken more seriously in the hedge fund market. The firm launched its first hedge fund in 1999 – a global tech long/short fund – and now runs $2.5 billion in 15 funds. To build the business further, Henderson has been recruiting distribution talent from hedge funds and is ready to attack the US market.

We mentioned earlier this year how Marcus Browning, former co-head of FX trading at Merrill Lynch, had engineered a move to Citi, purely, if rumours are to be believed, to get some sustained training for this year’s Etape du Tour. Unfortunately, Browning failed again this year to get the gold standard handed out to high finishers in the event. Having finished a splendid 820th out of more than 7,500 starters, Browning has every right to feel slightly aggrieved.

Private equity firm Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) has taken a minority stake in multi-bank trading platform FXall for $77.5 million. FXall declined to reveal what percentage of the company this represents, but in February, Euromoney revealed that the company, established in 2000 by a consortium of 17 banks, was in discussions with private equity to sell a stake of between 25% and 30%.

Slovenia is set to become the first of the new EU member countries from central and eastern Europe to adopt the euro, after EU finance ministers cleared its entry. Slovenia will take up the currency on January 1 2007, bringing the number of eurozone countries to 13. An exchange rate of Tr239.64 to the euro has been set.

If international football teams performed according to economic criteria, one from the eurozone would not necessarily come out on top.

Two years ago structured credit was a cottage industry. Now it’s the sector every major investment bank wants to grow in. Alex Chambers reports on the conflicting dynamics of the market, and how banks are trying to position themselves. And in a brand new poll, Euromoney reveals the leaders in the market.