John Cummings is the new treasurer of Royal Bank of Scotland. He replaces Brian Crowe, who moved into a senior management role in the corporate bank several years ago. Ron Huggett, a well-known figure in UK bank financing circles, continues as capital-raising director. Continuing with the Scottish financial theme, Andy Townsend has replaced Cummings as treasurer at Standard Life.

Pension markets in central and eastern Europe will grow at 19% a year until 2015, a report published by investment management group Allianz shows. This will constitute a growth in total funds from €51 billion to €245 billion by 2015, fuelled by gradual governmental reform of pension systems that were once monopolized by the state. The proportion of pensioners to working people in the region, the report says, will grow from about 20% now to about 33% in 2035 and about 50% in 2050.

Azerbaijan is set to become the latest sovereign from emerging Europe to tap the international bond markets, with a probable $300 million, five-year transaction slated for launch in September or October, market conditions permitting. The Caucasian republic has mandated Citi and Deutsche Bank to lead manage its debut transaction, which has been in the offing for several years. Gunduz Mammadov, chairman of the State Committee for Securities, says that the proceeds from the planned issue have been earmarked for general funding purposes. Deutsche Bank beat off competition from 11 other banks to book its berth on the landmark transaction and Citi was a shoo-in for the deal, having been a ratings adviser since 2005. Azerbaijan has a Ba1 issuer rating from Moody’s Investors Service and a BB+ grading from Fitch Ratings. The outlook on both ratings is stable.

Private equity and hybrids are main planks of growth strategy aimed at taking merged company to third place.

Dear Sir,

Bond markets are still too sanguine about inflation prospects. But present global growth rates will inevitably drain liquidity from the financial system.

It has been the ‘everybody has won and all must have prizes’ market so far in 2007. That phrase was uttered by a (fictional) Dodo. Now it is time for Darwinism to reassert itself.

Demand for commodities and improving political and fiscal climates lead rapid growth across sub-Sahara region.

Hypo Real Estate has agreed to buy Depfa Bank for €5.7 billion. The announcement came as a big surprise to many in the market. Unlike the protracted ABN Amro bid, the deal appears to be free of hindrances. There had been speculation that Dexia SA, Europe’s biggest public sector financier, would come in with a bid. However, despite Depfa’s shares having risen nearly 6.5% early in July as a result of such speculation, an offer never materialized. Hypo Real Estate’s takeover will create a public sector lender to rival Dexia. Dexia has some €271 billion held in public sector and infrastructure assets. Depfa and Hypo combined have €254 billion.

Are Pfandbrief issuers out of touch with modern rating methods?

Investment-grade issuers balk at increased costs.

Nick Evans, editor of EuroHedge, applauds the creation of a hedge fund manager working group.

Like most Philippine banks, Banco De Oro has enjoyed a re-rating as the fortunes of the local market have improved. With the shares now at a price to book ratio of about 2.8 and on a prospective P/E ratio of 18, even CEO Nestor Tan thinks the bank, like the stock market, is fully valued for now.

Negotiators in the planned merger of National Bank of Dubai and Emirates Bank International came to an agreement last month. The $11.3 billion deal between the banks will pave the way for the creation of the biggest bank by assets in the Gulf, and, it was speculated, result in a boom in M&A activity among UAE banks. With the Dubai government holding a 14% stake in NBD and 77% of EMI, the involvement in the deal of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum was said to be a key element of the negotiations. The new bank, to be named Emirates NBD, will employ as chairman Ahmed Al-Tayer, formerly chairman of EMI, and Abdullah Saleh, formerly of NBD, as vice-chairman.

"Having been a customer of your bank for more than 10 years, I find it difficult to describe any of you services as excellent. Another good example of SBM’s excellence in customer care I believe is the underground parking at your Vacoas branch. The parking used to be available for customers. However since a few months back customers no longer have access to it, as it seems that it is reserved for the exclusive use of the branch employees!! So much for customer sovereignty"

The newly enlarged CME Group, which now also comprises former rival Chicago Board of Trade, says that its second-quarter 2007 total revenues were up 17% to $329 million and net income up 15% to $126 million on the second quarter of 2006. Commenting on the figures, CME Group chief executive Craig Donohue referred to aspects of the exchange’s growth strategy, including FXMarketSpace. In a web broadcast Donohue admitted that volumes fell off in July but that customer "onboarding" had increased and that the joint venture with Reuters remained on track to break even at some point in 2008.

Hedge fund administrator GlobeOp and hedge fund Archeus have agreed to an amicable settlement of the claim filed by Archeus in July. Archeus shut down last year, blaming its closure on GlobeOp for its poor administration services. These, the fund said, had reduced investor confidence and led to redemptions. The filing highlighted the vulnerability of hedge fund counterparties as being held responsible for client losses, and so the settlement is largely welcomed by the hedge fund administration industry.

Country is now a net creditor, paying off external debts and developing local markets.

Asset management research and advisory firm Carbon360 says assets under administration for hedge funds globally are $3.4 trillion. Single-manager assets under administration are $2.72 trillion, the firm claims. The figures were reported in Carbon360’s 2007 fund administration fact book, which analyses 74 hedge fund administrators.

Argentina appointed Miguel Peirano as its new economic minister after Felisa Miceli resigned on July 16

Jim Siracusa is the new global head of DCM and securitization at Calyon. Siracusa previously worked at Dresdner Kleinwort, where he was co-head of client coverage, which included DCM origination and media, telecoms and technology coverage. In his new role he is responsible for securitization, debt principal finance and client solutions. He also covers traditional DCM, including emerging markets. He reports to Guy Laffineur, global head of fixed income.

If, as expected, US regulator the National Futures Association implements a proposal it has sent out to its 43 forex dealer members (FDMs), the result will be that many firms will have to attract fresh funding or close down.

Historically, when the US sneezes, Latin America catches a cold, and Mexico comes down with hypothermia. So what on earth is going on in the market for mortgage-backed securities?

There is a lot going on in the swaps industry right now.

According to a report by Aite Group, Spain’s fund of hedge funds market is taking off following legislation allowing retail investors to put money into the asset class. Spanish investors with more than €50,000 in disposable assets can invest in hedge funds, although it is expected that funds of hedge funds will be the preferred route. Hedge fund managers should be positioning themselves to capture the new influx of capital from the investor base.

Peru priced a NS4.75 billion ($1.5 billion) 30-year local currency benchmark bond on July 20, as it raised funds to repay Paris Club debt ahead of schedule. Peru sold the sol-denominated bonds, due in 2037, to yield 6.9% in an offer led by Citi. The Peruvian government has approved a sale of up to $2.58 billion-worth of bonds for Paris Club debt, indicating the possibility of further issuance.

Every so often the insurance-linked securities (ILS) sector rears its head and FIG bankers get excited that they will have a rich vein of new assets to bring to the capital markets. Around two years ago the great hope was that value in force (VIF) securitizations from UK insurance companies would take off following a couple of landmark transactions and regulatory encouragement from the Financial Services Authority, but activity there has slowed to a near halt. Once again there are now signs that investment banks and insurance brokers are ramping up their product capabilities amid a pick-up of deal flow in the past year.

UBS has merged its Scandinavian and UK debt capital market coverage teams for the corporate and public sector. The team is headed jointly by Allegra Berman and Mahnaz Safa. Cecilia Hulten, who previously looked after Scandinavian coverage, is leaving the firm to pursue other interests after five years. The integration does not include FIG, which was already run on a pan-European basis.

283,200,000,000 the volume of share buyback programmes globally so far this year. Share buybacks are up 19% compared with 2006 year-to-date and are at their highest on record, according to Dealogic. Retail has been the most active sector, with $56.7 billion via 14 deals, up from $3.4 billion via 12 deals in 2006 year-to-date. Finance follows with a volume of $45.9 billion via 27 deals and insurance with $25.9 billion via 16 deals.