Results based on only the opinions of the world’s largest asset managers by AUM.

It was a case of mistaken venue for a US-based capital markets head invited to Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence dinner in July when he found himself at a "dodgy pub" down an alley in East London instead of The Brewery corporate venue in the City. The pub with a similar name is in the East End of London, the former stomping ground for the notorious Kray Twins, who ran an organized crime racket in the 1950s and ’60s and were responsible for the murder of "Jack the Hat" McVitie. "I realized pretty quick that I had got the wrong ‘Brewery’," the banker said. "It was not the sort of place you wanted to stand around in a tuxedo."

While financial journalists must generally be condemned to work in the dark, labouring against the efforts of PR officials, the misleading comments of sources and the inherent opacity of the banking industry itself, occasionally mere chance shines a light where hours of diligent endeavour cannot.

As the sovereign debt crisis grinds on, the world’s top credit analysts are having to adapt to the needs of their firms’ biggest clients. Valentina Zarya reports.

It was good of Deutsche Bank to wait until after the conclusion of the first match of the Test series between England and India before announcing Anshu Jain’s appointment as co-chief executive of the bank from next May. Jain is well known for his love of cricket and even wrote a piece on the subject for Newsweek in the build-up to the World Cup earlier this year. (Cricket and banking: Jain keeps his eye on the ball, Euromoney March 2011)

"Starting as managing director with Christine Lagarde’s background is not an advantage at this point...There are arguments to say there should be some distance between the region concerned and the people who have to decide how the fund deals with it"

Banker A: "Do you work in the communications department?"

More than 500 people gathered at the Brewery in London on July 7 to receive their awards – and help raise almost £600,000 to build a school in one of Africa’s biggest slums.

Total Derivatives’ 2011 interest-rate derivatives rankings were surveyed in the midst of a choppy, troubled market in which inflation-linked products have come to the fore and concerns about regulatory demands remain prominent. Mark Ramsden reports.

The Bank of Israel governor tells Dominic O’Neill why he was disqualified from the IMF managing director short list, and discusses the challenges that the institution and new appointee Christine Lagarde face.

Regulatory criticism of synthetic and levered ETFs might force asset managers out of these products altogether. The bigger risk is that it tarnishes the entire trillion-dollar ETF industry. Louise Bowman reports.

Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer’s bid to be managing director of the IMF might have been successful, had the position been awarded on merit alone. Euromoney spoke to Fischer the day after the IMF announced it had selected Christine Lagarde.

The sector is enjoying substantial growth in assets, but converting this into profitability is a challenge, partly because of clients’ preference for low-fee, fixed-income products. And high interest rates are holding back growth in equity markets.

Investment banks’ revenues in Japan are down by a third this year. But the March tragedy has accelerated Japanese companies’ plans to expand offshore, with outbound M&A at record levels. For both groups, it is time for a make-or-break strategic rethink. Lawrence White reports from Tokyo.

Trust has broken down between IPO vendors and issuers and traditional investors in new stock offerings in Europe. Deal arrangers seem incapable of bridging the valuation gap between the two sides. In bloody markets, hedge funds have been the buyers of last resort but some have wreaked havoc on the IPO process. The only thing all sides agree on is that something needs to change. Peter Lee reports.

Cordiant Capital is at the vanguard of private loans, a small but increasingly important investment class in the emerging markets. Sudip Roy reports.

Q2 numbers put €10 billion target in jeopardy; Jain and Fitschen to take over from Ackermann.

Record outflows in June; Leveraged loans hold firm

Fitch Ratings has withdrawn yet more individual ratings for Asian banks, in what appears to be a definite change of strategy for the agency.

Growth exceeds expectations; Chinese authorities slowly loosen capital controls

A slowdown in emerging markets growth is the last thing a troubled global economy needs.

If there is scant market reaction to a downgrade of the US sovereign, rating agencies will lose face.

Recoveries in Europe for distressed junior lenders compare well with the US despite the lack of a single bankruptcy framework.

JAL re-listing seen as likely market catalyst; Nikko AM and Nexon other possible listings

Opening for business in Peru; Expects to grow on Lima exchange

One of Argentina’s leading economic consultancies says it will defy a government crackdown on agencies that disseminate independent inflation figures.

The Spanish bank deal was priced to go; Government pressure might have helped

The initial relief rally that greeted the second bailout plan for Greece last month was predictably short-lived.