"Misguided hedge fund guy seeks $2,000 friend with benefits - 36

Perceived as dead and buried three years ago, a $564 million purchase price stuns the market.

Institutional investors adopt the 130/30 rule.

Russell Investment Group has launched a range of global indices that apply the same criteria to all companies regardless of size and the country in which they are listed.

Ivan Ritossa, Barclays Capital’s global head of FX, has assumed responsibility for the bank’s rates business in Asia. His new remit includes fixed income, and commodity and equity-linked products, run out of the bank’s Singapore office. A Barclays spokesperson said: "Asia contains the fastest-growing economies in the world. Developing and building our business across this diverse region is fundamental to the global growth plans of the firm. Since joining the firm in 2002, Ivan has transformed the foreign exchange business into a world-class performer."

Gulf institutions maintain their dominance of Euromoney’s rankings as growth continues for third successive year. Morris Helal reports.

Demand for Islamic finance products is high. At last supply is starting to meet investors’ needs. The challenge for the industry is to ensure that the market’s infrastructure develops sufficiently quickly so that more companies and entities continue to embrace Shariah-compliant techniques. And on the following pages Euromoney profiles the winners of the latest ­Islamic finance awards.

Which are the financings that defined the capital markets in 2006? This year, Euromoney recognizes half a dozen deals that will for ever be associated with the previous 12 months.

Hedge fund managers are paying closer attention to returns on their cash balances, according to a survey of 800 managers by Horizon Cash Management.

Two surveys of hedge fund managers’ portfolio valuation policies have revealed a lack of standardization, highlighting a need for stricter valuation procedures, particularly when dealing with hard-to-value assets.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

Claire Bright, former head of asset and liability management of HBOS Treasury Services, has withdrawn her £11 million ($21.8 million) claim of sex discrimination and wrongful dismissal against the UK bank.

Albania has something of an image problem abroad. What scant coverage the country has received in the international press in the past has almost universally been negative in tone, focusing on drugs-trafficking, Mafia shootings, banking scandals and political mismanagement. It’s hardly the ideal news recipe if you’re looking to attract much-needed investment to a country often dubbed the poor man of Europe.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

The imposition of policies to counter terrorist financing activities means that controversial decisions are inevitable. Even so, the US Treasury’s hard-line stance towards Iran’s financial institutions, two of which it publicly claims are funding the country’s nuclear weapons programme and Middle East terrorist organizations, raises important questions – not least whether its actions are interfering with international commerce.

Much of the singsong about the advantages to Euronext of the merger with the NYSE sounds flat.

The region’s equity markets are beginning to outshine debt and M&A.

The growing number of investors wanting to short the commercial property market is good news for property derivatives.

The bank has changed. Now Green and Geoghegan’s challenge is to manage investors’ different expectations.

Regulatory arbitrage will to take a new form once bankers can get their heads around Basle II.

A revival of domestic investor interest in Japan’s equity and real estate markets is inevitable.

Currenex’s sale may force a re-rating of FX platforms and their owners.

Recent research belies the image of hedge fund activists as short-termists that destroy corporate value rather than create it.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

Islamic finance is a natural home for structural innovation. Even the most basic Shariah-compliant products necessarily involve some degree of structuring: finding methods to mimic the economic benefits of conventional financial products while maintaining a religiously acceptable asset base. Now, though, banks are taking this structuring a step further. Chris Wright reports.

Japan seems a strange place to start an independent research firm. Costs are high, and the market, although large, is dominated by domestic mega banks and the international bulge bracket. For Rupert Eastwood, CEO and co-founder of Japaninvest Group, that is precisely the point.

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com