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.

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.

Investment banking has long been a demanding profession. Bankers have been accustomed to always-on cell phones, the ubiquitous BlackBerry and late-night meetings. Spare a thought, however, for one banker caught between a call from the boss and a call of nature.

UniCredit continues to expand its operations in central and eastern Europe, with the acquisitive Italian banking group turning its gaze towards Ukraine in July. Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA), which is responsible for UniCredit’s commercial banking activities in central and eastern Europe, has signed an agreement to buy 95% of Ukrsotsbank (USB), Ukraine’s fourth-largest bank by assets. The deal follows June’s $1.5 billion purchase of a controlling stake in Kazakhstan’s ATF Bank and the acquisition of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s 10% stake in Russia’s International Moscow Bank for $229 million.

Goldman Sachs has appointed Chris Barter and David Schwimmer as joint CEOs of its Moscow office. Barter was previously co-head of the European financial institutions group in London at the bank. He will relocate to Moscow by the end of the summer. Schwimmer was head of investment banking for Russia and central and eastern Europe. He is already based in Moscow. Goldman received its first Russian securities brokerage licence last year and, according to observers, is hiring aggressively across all products

Two MBS transactions have become the Gulf region’s first internationally rated securitizations.

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.

HSBC has beefed up its DCM operation, making a number of hires – especially from Nomura.

Investor appetite for exposure to the Russian banking sector shows no sign of weakening, with a series of transactions concluded in recent weeks. Headline-grabbing deals included foreign purchases of stock in MDM Bank and Rosbank. Domestic consolidation also continues, with the sale of LipetskComBank to Bank Zenit the latest example.

Albania has finally secured a credit rating in a move that the authorities in Tirana hope will help boost the Balkan republic’s investment profile with international investors. Moody’s Investors Service assigned a Ba1 country ceiling for foreign-currency bonds and a B1 issuer rating to the government. Moody’s also awarded a B2 foreign-currency bank deposit ceiling along with a local-currency country ceiling of A3 and a local-currency bank deposit ceiling of Baa1. All ratings carry a stable outlook.

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.

With the fifth anniversary of the creation of the Continuous Linked Settlement Bank (CLS) fast approaching, the Bank for International Settlements committee on payment and settlement systems has issued a reminder to the market that further progress can still be made to reduce settlement risk.

Dresdner Kleinwort has become a victim of its own success in central and eastern Europe, says a source at the bank explaining why the firm has been hit by a series of departures in recent months.

After many years during which change was merely incremental, electronic trading in debt markets is about to be fundamentally transformed. New entrants and platforms have emerged or are mooted, and fresh partnerships are being considered as incumbents find their value proposition under pressure. Dealers and clients will face a completely new way of debt trading. By Alex Chambers.

The 2007 Italian national budget law outlines a new framework for the country’s regional healthcare administrations. The law’s purpose is to force each region with a large deficit in its healthcare funding to formulate and implement a recovery plan. "The national budget for 2007 represents a positive step forward in finalizing a set of rules for Italian healthcare," says Simone Zampa, senior analyst at Moody’s. "It aims to make regions more responsible and more accountable."

Quinenco, the largest shareholder in Banco de Chile, and Citi have agreed a partnership in which Citi will have the rights to acquire up to 50% of the holding company that controls Banco de Chile.

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.

A new Euromoney poll asked leading institutions that invest in alternatives to nominate their dream hedge fund managers across a number of styles and asset classes. One thing is clear – even as the number of hedge funds continues to soar, reputation and track record count most. Helen Avery reports.