The big banks’ Mlec fund might well unblock the present credit log jam. But there’s no escaping the fact that global liquidity has contracted and capital is being repriced upwards.

The London and Tokyo stock exchanges this November announced a joint venture to create a new junior market in Tokyo based on the LSE’s highly successful AIM model.

The sixth annual report on global investment management by KPMG has revealed that further convergence between hedge funds, private equity companies and long-only managers is to be expected.

Watch out Standard Chartered: a potential competitor might have been born. London-based investment bank Medicap, 100% owned by BMCE, a Moroccan bank, launched in November, and intends to focus on one of Standard Chartered’s specialities: Africa.

Vietnam is in a hurry. Rapid economic growth, recent accession to the World Trade Organization and a new seat on the UN Security Council are all encouraging a flood of foreign investment into the country. Yet the politicians remain wary of opening up the market to too much international integration too quickly. Julian Marshall reports from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The scramble for Africa just became institutionalized. Anyone who thought that the latest round of deals in Africa – led mainly by the Chinese – would be limited to the commodity sector had better revise their views. Two developments in the past month show that the Chinese are willing, even desperate, to take stakes in financial institutions on the continent. All indications suggest that direct investment inflows into Africa, some $39 billion in 2006, according to Unctad, the UN trade and development agency, are likely to be much higher for 2007. Some analysts expect the figure to hit $100 billion by 2010. The first deal, announced on October 31, is a partnership between Nigeria’s United Bank of Africa and China Development Bank. Details on the level of credit available to UBA are not being disclosed but it is understood to be significant. UBA feels it has stolen a march on its rivals and done the region a favour as well. "This partnership will contribute to strengthening of the economic cooperation between China and Nigeria and indeed the sub-region," says Tony Elumelu, chief executive of UBA. "The long-term funding gap in Africa is the highest in the world and this partnership will seek to close that gap."

800,000,000,000 the total dollar value of ECM issuance so far this year. The figure, a record, was achieved on the back of 5,350 transactions. Global convertibles issuance so far this year at $159.6 billion has already exceed 2006’s convertibles total, and global IPO and follow-on volumes are not far off from reaching the total of all ECM issuance in 2006.

Rami Hayek has left his post as global head of equity and fixed-income investments at Deutsche Bank’s private wealth management group to join Credit Suisse. Hayek joins Omar Cordes in the role of co-head of Asia Pacific distribution for asset management, and will be based in Hong Kong.

A study by Integrity Research Associates shows a disparity between research conducted by traditional buy-side firms and their hedge fund counterparts that could explain the latter’s outperformance.

The closing months of 2007 are proving to be full of intrigue for watchers of the Japanese banking industry, with the year’s two biggest M&A deals experiencing setbacks while smaller banks look to forge new alliances.

Latin American banks are well positioned to endure the credit crunch and a potential global economic slowdown, according to regional specialists. So far, the banking system has weathered the storm and analysts expect it to continue to do so.

A report commissioned by Deutsche Bank claims that the growth of 130:30 strategies will have a significant impact on the securities lending market. If the strategy attracts the forecast $2 trillion in assets over the next three years, an additional $600 billion in borrowed securities will be needed, says the report. It is hoped that the pressure on the market might transform the opaque and inefficient characteristics of securities lending.

State-owned, cash-rich and increasingly influential, sovereign wealth funds have emerged as the most controversial players in the financial markets. All the constituents – banks, private equity, corporates, hedge funds – want a slice of their action. Just how powerful will the funds become? Sudip Roy reports.

Issuers opt for convertibles and opportunistic deals.

The proliferation of sovereign wealth funds is an opportunity and challenge for investment banks and asset managers.

Foreign exchange history is littered with the corpses of institutions that have looked at the industry and then decided to enter the market and become significant players. Now the perceived wisdom is that it is harder than ever for someone new to break into even the top 20, let alone the top five.

With the dollar in seeming free fall, the Gulf Cooperation Council is set to discuss the wisdom of keeping its member states’ currencies pegged to the ailing currency.

Citi, Bank of America and JPMorgan will fail to persuade several banks to participate in the initial idea of a master-liquidity enhancement conduit.

It is one thing to want a sovereign wealth fund but to actually set one up is a long and challenging process, as countries such as Brazil are discovering. Key issues such as infrastructure, hiring people and asset allocation need to be addressed before the investing process can even be considered.

Jim Turley is planning on taking a sabbatical from his role as global head of institutional client group at Deutsche Bank. Insiders at the bank say that Turley is keen to become a rugby coach. Turley, the bank’s former head of global currencies and commodities, is unusual in being both highly regarded and extremely well liked. It was during his tenure that Deutsche emerged as the global FX powerhouse it is today.

Citi has become the fourth member of the Euromoney top five to enter the retail FX market, following the relatively recent moves of Deutsche Bank, RBS and UBS. Like its peers, Citi has decided to partner with an established player in the retail segment, choosing Saxo Bank to provide some of the technology and client support services.

The Future Fund, created last year to cover long-term pension liabilities for the Australian federal public sector, is very much in its infancy but is finally managing money.

Whether it’s Louis Hagen donning pom-poms and leading a Pfandbrief cheer or a University Challenge-style quiz during the lunch break, every conference needs its memorable moments.

Standard & Poor’s finally lowered its long-term corporate credit rating on airports operator BAA to sub-investment grade on November 21. The move comes a full eight months after the agency’s own declared deadline for downgrading the credit. S&P finally acted because of BBA’s "protracted refinancing", the details of which were revealed in Euromoney’s April issue.

The problem is with time rather than the legislation or its implementation, say analysts.

Currency investment manager Record announced on November 9 plans to list on the London Stock Exchange, with the flotation scheduled to go ahead by the end of the month. The company, set up by former Bank of England economist Neil Record in 1983, was one of the first specialist currency investment management firms. Its decision to list on the London Stock Exchange is believed to be another first by an overlay manager.

A stream of new CLOs is hitting the market – but it is far from business as usual.

Citi has merged its equity capital markets and fixed-income capital markets divisions.

"If the shoe was on the other foot, if these were sovereign wealth investors in France, Germany, the UK or the US earning fabulous returns, reducing national deficits, funding social security costs and investing into the rest of the world, would they think it was an issue? I suspect not"

Infrastructure investment is not without risk. Even the US has found this; the collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis in August led to the realization that much of the country’s ageing infrastructure needs refurbishment. But flows of new money bring their own problems. Investment skills and experience remain the pre-eminent qualities required to succeed.