It is traditional around year-end for awards to be received for deeds performed during the previous 12 months. We hereby announce Euromoney magazine’s inaugural awards for high-quality press relations. We did not ask for submissions as we are constantly bombarded with incidents from which to choose.

After some considerable time in development, Eurex plans to launch the world’s first exchange traded credit derivatives contract on March 27. The contract will be based on the iTraxx Europe five year series and – dependent on market demand and sufficient market maker support – Eurex might also list futures contracts on the HiVol and Crossover indices on the same date. The contracts will be cash settled.

Hundreds pushed out at Dresdner just ahead of bonus round.

Corporates need to recognize that they need to care about their CDS investors and that the old attitude of concentrating on the requirements of bondholders alone will no longer wash.

Volume and profits in the FX market have grown more consistently than in any other part of the financial markets. New entrants and existing users still cannot resist the promise of diversification and excess return.

ATS operators sunk by Icebergs in Europe turn to America and Asia. ITG, which launched its crossing centre in Canada as recently as the fourth quarter of 2005, has already seen its market share rise to 4.1% of the volume of the dominant Toronto Exchange, TSX.

Strong business confidence, healthy demand for German products and an increasing share of income going to capital belie fears that Germany’s growth rate is under threat.

Activity remained high into mid-December after the majors finally broke free of their narrow ranges.

CapitaLand Limited, Singapore’s leading property group and already the sponsor of four Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts, including the recent mainland China Reit, CapitaRetail China Trust, added to its portfolio in December with the IPO of a fifth Reit and its first to be listed abroad.

The Saudi banking sector is set for sustained growth on the back of GCC-wide economic development. Foreign banks are keen to join the bonanza.

Another record year for financial institutions suggests no end to the boom in global financial markets. But they may be ignoring underlying economic conditions that threaten global growth and might cause a severe correction in the global capital markets, says Clive Horwood.

“I’m afraid he says he is unable to speak with you at the moment.”

The US private banking market is becoming increasingly competitive as domestic and foreign players battle it out for the country’s wealthiest clients, who are making increasingly complex demands that require more holistic approaches from banks. Private bankers’ salaries are at all-time highs and there seems little chance of them coming down in the near future. Helen Avery reports.

The best agency players make attractive acquisition targets.

Traditionally seen as great for service, but second best in investment performance, private banks have been polishing up their act, investing in research and third-party products to diversify portfolios and win back market share in asset management from other financial service providers. FTSE PriBIL’s Private Banking Indices show that high-net-worth individuals should be taking private banks’ portfolio management more seriously. Plus we profile three of the banks that outperformed it. Helen Avery reports.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank, has issued its first local currency bond offering in sub-Saharan Africa. The XOF22 billion ($44.6million), five-year bond was placed in the eight West African Economic and Monetary Union member nations. IFC vice-president Nina Shapiro said: “IFC expects to follow this bond issue with structured products developed in partnership with local financial institutions.” BNP Paribas is leading the issue.

London-based exchange launches derivatives on LSE-listed Russian stocks.

Unsuspecting staff at the Citigroup Centre in London passing by the fixed-income trading floor were shocked to see their head of high-yield sales and trading, Mickey Brennan, and their head of emerging markets sales, Marc Pagano, getting their heads shaved while fellow staff members cheered on.

Bank Zenit issued the first collateralized debt obligation backed by a portfolio of Russian corporate debt last month. The Red Square transaction is a two-year synthetic CDO, denominated in roubles with 40 local credits. It is one of a handful of emerging market CDO transactions, and what makes it significant is that the underlying portfolio consists of local-currency debt.

Is manager or strategy selection the key for fund of hedge funds managers?

The launch of Goldman Sachs’s Absolute Return Tracker Index in Italy in December has revived the argument about the value of passive hedge fund investing through indices compared with direct hedge fund investments or investment through funds of hedge funds.

It could be that the bank is simply too large, and only disposals can change the culture. But the recent changes are, to date at least, a missed opportunity.

The looming pensions crisis means individuals will have to take more responsibility, work longer and begin to save. If the US goes from a nation of spenders to a nation of savers, as it must, what will the impact be for the global economy, asks Gabriel Stein.

The causes of unprecedented global financial imbalances are complex, and understanding them is key to predicting what happens next. But do global economic prospects, as Brian Reading suggests, boil down to a simple question: will Americans stop wanting to borrow and spend before Eurasians stop wanting to save and lend?

In 2000 Saddam Hussein attempted to stop accepting US dollars for oil transactions in favour of the euro, threatening demand for and the liquidity value of the dollar. After the Bush regime had invaded Iraq and ousted the dictator, they quietly went about converting Iraq’s oil currency back to the dollar.

China is the world’s largest-ever catch-up economy. It will soon be the world’s largest economy, period. But policymakers in Beijing face some tough choices in the years to come to cope with the strains that industrial revolution brings, writes Diana Choyleva.

When it comes to hedge fund regulation 2006 is a year to be forgotten. It began with regulation by the SEC, only for it to be withdrawn later after an adverse court ruling. And no country seemed willing or able to decide what to do about international regulation. A pessimist would suggest that things won’t change much in 2007.

“The most important project ever contemplated for the continent”

January is the month to purge the excesses of Christmas and New Year from the system. Detoxing won’t be so easy for the markets.

Big strategic acquisitions might be an exciting diversion for banks’ senior managers. But it is shareholders that pay for them.