Bank of America is expanding its private banking business by targeting US families worth $50 mln+.

The growing number of FX transactions being settled through CLS Bank is strong evidence that the market is still expanding.

KfW inaugurated its 2006 euro benchmark programme with a blowout €5 billion 15-year deal, the first time the German agency has issued in this maturity. The deal is able to take full advantage of demand from pension funds and insurers for long-dated assets. Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch had a €10 billion order book after just one day. Pricing was 2 basis points through the 15-year swaps rate or 11bp over the April 2021 OAT.

New cash and synthetic ABS indices will give European market participants the tools to express subtle directional views that have been the preserve of total-return funds and synthetic credit specialists.

“I was meant to buy a new house today. All the financing was in place. Everything was agreed. Then a Russian turned up with a bag of cash and gazumped me. My wife’s not very happy.”

IPOs in the Gulf are so popular that one investment bank has found a novel way to avoid crushes as investors scramble to register for shares. Qatar National Bank, which is arranging the $1.1 billion IPO for Al Rayyan Bank, hired a stadium in Doha for a two-week period in January.

The US commercial real estate CDO market is the one to watch in 2006 for volumes and new opportunities.

The corporate hybrid sector shifted to retail with Porsche's 7.2% $1 billion perpetual non-call five (no coupon step-up). The transaction has several unusual aspects linked to the rating and structure, marketing and pricing.

“Some of the other banks closed their internet offerings at 9pm. Just think about that for a minute. ‘The internet is closed.’”

Ask any of London’s famous black-cab drivers which investment bank they think is best and chances are they will vote for Deutsche Bank.

Aegis – the ABS fund manager established by Richard Stow and Miguel Alcober two years ago – has sold its first CDO, Cavendish Square Funding, via BNP Paribas.

Mixed message in mix-up?

Larry Trotter and the Bonus of Doom

Investment banks take their branding very, very seriously. The agonizing over choice of name, fonts and colour schemes can be endless – and extremely costly.

Romania

Peru’s retail banking market is almost unrecognizable from a decade ago. In the mid-1990s, when less than 15% of economically active Peruvians had a bank account, 26 banks were jockeying for business in a depressed local market, some with highly inadvisable lending policies.

Raising money in global financial markets in 2005 was not always easy. But equity returns were strong and global credit survived a volatile year; it was also a notably profitable year for investment banks as M&A boomed again and the fees came rolling in.

In the first of a regular new column featuring heads of funding at leading financial institutions, Barclays’ new treasurer talks to Alex Chambers about the early days of his new role and how its demands differs from his experience as an investment banker.

Debt exchange plans hobbled by bad timing, repeat performance and a fully tapped shelf.

The Philippines’ capital markets have started 2006 positively. Capitalizing on the immediate strength of the peso, the Republic of the Philippines was Asia’s first sovereign to tap the market when it raised $2.1 billion from a $1.5 billion 25-year bond and a €500 million 10-year bond, one of the largest fund raisings from Asia for several years.

First-of-a-kind deal exploits strong interest in regional IPOs.

Funding from Abbott Laboratories for Boston Scientific’s bid for Guidant could set an important precedent.

Residential mortgage-backed securities origination in Italy could be about to receive a boost with the entrance of international banks establishing prime residential platforms. SG and Macquarie are two names that are looking into the possibility. The attraction is the relatively attractive margin achievable on loans compared with France, Germany, the Netherlands and, of course, the UK. In the UK there are already several established players in both the prime and sub-prime space but there too Deutsche Bank is building a sub-prime platform.

Japanese companies are now creditworthy and the banks are recapitalized but neither side seems keen to enter into loan transactions. But companies can see the long-term value of establishing access to capital markets. And lenders are keen to repackage and redistribute credit risk in new ways and define a new relationship with corporate customers. Peter Lee reports

UK

CNOOC finally closed a significant Nigerian oil deal in January.

Asia Debt Management, a successful distressed debt fund manager based in Hong Kong, has teamed up with the Asian Development Bank to launch a $338 million closed-end fund targeting financially distressed companies that need rehabilitation. This is the second Maculus fund: the ADB also invested in Maculus I and this time has committed $45 million to the Maculus Fund II. The new fund will invest primarily in the capital structure (securities, loans, equity or other assets) of potentially viable, listed or unlisted companies, in financial distress due to excessive debt or unsustainable capital structures. The fund has a five-year life but might be extended for up to two consecutive one-year periods at Asia Debt Management’s option.

As gold has traded up to 25-year highs, the Canadian dollar has weakened, despite the products’ strong long-term correlation. Does this mean that the relationship has broken down?

Claire Bright is suing HBOS for sex discrimination and wrongful dismissal. Cliff Pattenden, head of treasury at the UK bank, is cited in the suit in which Bright is claiming a whopping £11million ($19.6 million) compensation [see Hybrid capital: It all ends in tiers, November issue for background on Bright’s departure).

Those banks distributing goodies in the hope of influencing the poll (against the rules, we hasten to add) might do well to remember that clients are often an ungrateful bunch. Apparently, one Japanese client of a UK clearing bank complained about the iPod Shuffles it received for Christmas. It was not the fact that iPods are made by one of its competitors that caused the problem. No, it was the fact that the Shuffle is at the bottom of the iPod range.