Downsizing in CLO, CDO, CSO; upscaling mortgage and ABS.

"Return to profitability in 2009 is our most important priority". The bank’s chief executive details his vision for a new UBS

Academics at the University of Portsmouth are undertaking an unconventional study into new business methods, commissioned by transition consultants Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA).

Credit Suisse has announced the formation of a new group in its EMEA global markets solutions business (GMSB) designed to address what co-head of global investment banking Jim Amine describes as a “unique opportunity” presented by the current debt market dislocation.

The Central Bank of Nigeria tightened its foreign exchange management on January 19, moving from a wholesale to a retail Dutch auction system. Applications for international currency must therefore now be deal-specific.

The fallen of Wall Street have a new way to lift their spirits. Apparently, New York bankers’ latest craze is hypnotism.

Yes, the share prices of RBS, Lloyds and Barclays have been crushed. The equity markets simply must adjust to banks' reduced status

“It’s the right time to go for me. I was going to go a year ago. It’s been 25 years and I’m 50 years old. Time for new blood to fight the new fight!” says Paul Hearn on announcing his retirement from BNP Paribas in January.

In January the Asian debt market reopened with more than $30 billion of bonds sold, breaking a record that has stood for 10 years. The region’s syndicate bankers are confident that more could be on the way as governments look to fund stimulus packages and the region’s top banks seek to raise fresh capital to shore up their balance sheets.

Three key questions arise from the recent sale of stakes in Chinese banks by their global counterparts, two of them widely asked, one not. Observers are wondering what the impact will be on global banks’ relations with China, and what will happen when the lock-ups on foreign bank stakes in ICBC expire in April. Rather fewer are asking if, irrespective of the global lenders’ capital positions, this is anyway a good time to be bailing out of Chinese banks.

A looming recession threatens a shake-up of the country’s staid industries. A boldly led Japan Inc would help the global economy. But such leadership has been promised before and never delivered. Lawrence White reports.

Last month in this space Euromoney predicted the rise of a breed of analysts somewhat clumsily dubbed ‘below eight-percenters’, that is analysts forecasting GDP growth rates for China in 2009 below the 8% threshold that was the consensus towards the end of last year and was the government target. So it has come to pass, and sooner than expected: a note published on January 5 by Jun Ma, chief economist at Deutsche Bank, predicts GDP growth for China to decline to 7% in 2009 and 6.6% in 2010. The team at RBS were gloomier still just over two weeks later, forecasting 6% for 2009. Will the first ‘below five-percenters’ please make themselves known?

As the terrible fourth-quarter results were unveiled, Bank of America started briefing against John Thain, Merrill Lynch’s chief executive. This is always a high-risk press strategy. A public relations specialist comments: "Washing dirty laundry in public is dangerous. Now even grannies in Topeka, Kansas, know that Bank of America is in chaos."

Old-style capitalism is in disrepute. Fans of Islamic finance say it is a model whose ethics give it more sustainability. But optimists will be disappointed to see how far it is part of the global bust. Dominic O’Neill reports.

Bank of America/Merrill Lynch tops DCM bookrunner tables.

The Euromoney Japanese Digest has published a list of deals of the year. The full list of winners is:

The most canny issuers in 2008 were those that realized it was important to get on and raise capital even if the price was not great. Waiting for the market to improve was and remains a potentially fatal strategy. Alex Chambers reports.