The decision of £118 billion ($202 billion) pan-European fund manager F&C to dissolve negotiations to outsource its operational functions to Mellon Financial Services strikes another blow to back-office operations providers. Earlier this year, Schroders and JPMorgan cancelled their outsourcing agreement, and consultants say it’s a sign that fund managers and service providers are realizing that outsourcing is not as easy to conduct as was once thought.

Japanese equities are at the start of a sustained bull market that in the next two years will take the Nikkei well above 20,000 from its current 14,000 level.

Balkans – Equest Balkan Properties plans to list its shares on AIM, giving investors the opportunity to buy into property markets in south-eastern Europe. The fund will focus mainly on retail, office and industrial assets in Bulgaria and Romania. It will also look at assets in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the FYR of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Turkey. The company expects a target yield of 7.5% once the proceeds of the placing are fully invested, rising to 10% over time.

“Around three years ago we read in Euromoney and other serious financial publications that we had a big problem with our banks. So we decided to do something about it... and that is why we have achieved what we have achieved in reforming the bank sector.”

Brazilian and Mexican derivatives markets gain sophistication.

Fast food chain McDonald’s has come under pressure from an activist hedge fund to restructure. Pershing Square Capital Management wants the company to spin off two-thirds of its restaurants and borrow $14.7 billion against its real estate to buy back shares. McDonald’s dismissed the idea as a “financial engineering exercise”.

M&A activity is changing the Asian banking landscape and the relative positions of banks in Euromoney’s rankings.

Bond returns have come closer to matching equity returns over the past 25 years, according to Deutsche Bank. European credit strategists Gary Jenkins and Jim Reid looked at more than a century’s worth of data from the US. They found that, over a 105-year sample, equities produced a real total annual return of 6.53%, compared with 1.42% for US Treasuries and 2.5% for corporate bonds. But since 1980, equities outperformed corporates by just 1.5 percentage points.

Morgan Stanley took the most M&A advisory mandates worldwide in the first half of the year, but Goldman Sachs had edged ahead again by November.

The world’s largest foreign exchange banks have made a mistake in streaming prices to scores of electronic platforms and inviting everyone to participate in them. Now, they want to take back control. As Lee Oliver finds out, a new bank-only system is being touted as the answer. Who is behind it, and will it succeed?

“It’s nearly impossible to say which one you would choose when they go head to head in a pitch for passive mandates. They’re 10-ton gorillas that joust at the top.”

General Electric’s consumer finance division is entering agent banking, hoping to get business from retail banks seeking to outsource their credit card businesses. Industry commentators believe the move could bring GE $250 million of additional profit over the next five years.

Noriba exits some investments early after strong performance.

Until recently only multilaterals with a regional mandate, such as the ADB and IFC, have shown much interest in issuing bonds in Asian currencies. But KfW is planning a three-pronged attack on local-currency issuance in 2006. So are local markets about to take off?

There has been no let-up in the spread war, highlighted in last month’s issue. Deutsche Bank has tightened up its spot FX prices even further to selected customers in response to Barclays’ introduction of precision pricing. Sources say that the bank is currently evaluating the impact, before deciding whether to roll it out further. A bank official says: “Deutsche Bank has recently introduced laddered and dynamic pricing to clients. This allows us to price liquidity to our clients more accurately.”

Argentina is threatening to leave the IMF, according to reports in the local media, as relations take another turn for the worse. Basking in his success in October’s legislative elections, president Nestor Kirchner wants the IMF to soften its demands. The Fund wants Argentina to let the peso appreciate and to tighten monetary policy.

Could the southern hemisphere provide a solution to the problem of how to settle derivatives trades cleanly and quickly?

Foreign investors concerned about the effect on bond prices.

US private equity group Elevation Partners, which has U2 front man Bono as a partner, announced its first investment in two video game companies, Pandemic Studios and BioWare. The deal will bring the two companies together and, as a result of a $300 million investment, Elevation Partners will become the majority shareholder of the combined group. Elevation Partners closed a $1.9 billion fund in August.

Middle Eastern private investment and advisory firm Injazat Capital is launching a $100 million Islamic-compliant healthcare fund this month.

Latin America's debt markets are proving their worth in financing big projects.

The cost of retaining commodities traders is rising faster than comparable costs in any other area on the street, according to a new financial markets compensation report published by executive search and strategic consulting firm Options Group. “Energy has been a very neglected business for a long time, especially the area of energy derivatives,” says the group’s co-founder, Michael Karp. “Now lots of banks are trying to recruit in this area and commodities traders’ compensation packages should be up 30% from last year. It’s been difficult to find skilled energy traders for a couple of years but now the market’s getting tougher on a daily basis.”

Banks get together to create industry utility.

Analysts expect the Province of Buenos Aires to achieve a 90% participation rate for its $3 billion debt restructuring, when it closes on December 16. If it succeeds, it will be a stunning result, given that those investors who accept the restructuring own debt worth about 40 cents on the original dollar.

Further proof that FX has gone mainstream comes with news that Rydex Investments has filed a registration statement with the SEC to launch a currency exchange-traded fund (ETF). When approved, the new ETF, which is based on the level of the euro against the dollar, will trade as a stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

Banks are expanding their presence in energy trading – again. But with two established incumbents, is there enough profitable business for the newcomers? Kathryn Tully reports.

Latin America’s two biggest equity markets have agreed to integrate as part of a pilot scheme to bolster liquidity in the region. Brazilian and Mexican investors to gain access to each other’s markets.

According to Greenwich Associates, the average salary of a hedge fund manager last year was $280,000. The average annual bonus was $900,000.

James Montier of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, investors’ favourite equity strategist as ranked by the Thomson Extel Survey, has identified seven common mistakes in the investment process of fund managers everywhere. His analysis challenges some of the most deeply held beliefs.

Markit has launched its independent pricing service for European asset-backed securities (ABS). It seeks to cast some light on the rather opaque ABS secondary market. About 3,500 European ABS will be covered with pricing provided by the leading market makers in Europe. All the major asset classes are covered, including RMBS, CMBS, ABS and cash CDOs. Dealers will provide mark-to-market data to Markit, which it will validate before dissemination.