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 first of several credit derivative product company (CDPC) launches widely rumoured to be in the works emerged just before the year-end.

Better guide to risk than VaR. According to some hedge fund industry participants, stress testing is becoming a more widely used measure of risk among prime brokers and managers.

Mizuho Securities is building its structured credit and debt capital markets business.

In October 2006, Merrill Lynch raised $279 million to fund the leveraged buyout of Indonesian coal mining company PT Berau Coal by Indonesian businessman Rizal Risjad. The transaction was financed using two layers of secured structured debt with the subordinated issue, dubbed CELLS – collateralized equity leveraged loan securities – offering investors equity participation rights in the future sale or IPO of the company.

The May-June 2006 markets crunch was a dress rehearsal for liquidity implosion. And, in an alarming trend, the Eurasian savings glut is increasing, sustaining Goldilocks short-term but aggravating the potential global demand deficiency. Charles Dumas argues that a hard landing followed by poor recovery is the natural consequence of the glut.

In October the Province of Buenos Aires issued its first international bond since the sovereign’s default in December 2001. The placement’s success demonstrates how far Argentina has since come. Hernan Lorenzino, the province’s under-secretary of finance, tells Chloe Hayward about this bond issue and its impact for Argentina.

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