The Venezuelan parliament has begun a process that could allow president Hugo Chávez unlimited re-election and back his bid to rule until 2021. The proposed constitutional amendment must now be read twice in parliament before it can be brought to referendum. Chávez, who came to power in 1999, was re-elected president of Venezuela in December 2006, for a term expiring in 2013. Two debates are also necessary, one took place on December 18, and the second is expected in mid-January. The National Electoral Council will then convene a referendum within 30 days.

Irish divestment would be severe test for weakened loan market.

Five years ago, Euromoney was catching up over lunch with a senior figure at a large European bank. Something was troubling him. His private bankers were reporting that emissaries from a large US-based hedge fund had been approaching wealthy European clients telling them that they had unearthed a secret formula to extract regular, risk-free returns from the stock markets.

Saxo Bank has had a mixed press this year, which is perhaps testament to the fact that it can no longer be considered to be a junior upstart in foreign exchange.

Non-performing loans will haunt the People’s Republic in 2009.

A fuller understanding of true trading costs should help decisions about post-trade functions.

James Garvey announced his retirement from Goldman Sachs in December 2008. Garvey’s title was chairman of investment-grade financing – a role that was given to him after the firm made syndicate and debt origination a global business run under Jim Esposito a year ago.

The proliferation of alternative trading venues in Europe has vastly complicated the task of achieving best execution.

Louis Hagen is to leave the association of German Pfandbrief banks (VDP) to join Münchener Hypothekenbank’s board of managing directors. Hagen is executive director at the VDP, and is known for his spirited and often eccentric promotion of the Pfandbrief at various covered bond events around the world. Hagen was also chairman of the European covered bond council between 2004 and 2007. His departure follows Henning Rasche’s decision to leave the board of Eurohypo to concentrate on his role as president of the VDP. Hagen is succeeded by Jens Tolckmitt, general manager of the association of foreign banks in Germany.

Credit insurer Coface is to launch a financial ratings service in the UK. By using company information, credit insurance expertise and its own expertise, the firm aims to be able to offer spot ratings on a medium-sized company for a starting price of just £4,000. Coface has criticized the draft EU regulation for rating agencies saying that it will increase costs without having any impact on quality.

President Correa of Ecuador stated that he would not pay a $30.6 million coupon on the sovereign’s 2012 bonds that were due on December 15. This move means that holders of the 2012 notes will seek an acceleration of full payments of the $510 million in bonds, and also triggered cross default clauses on its 2015 and 2030 notes. This brings the total amount of technical default to $3.8 billion.

India’s largest corporates, desperate to shore up working capital or pay the interest on overpriced flagship acquisitions, are trying every trick in the book to raise cash from investors, banks and non-bank financial institutions.

One month after the Kuwaiti stock exchange reached its lowest point for more than three years, there has been a turnaround. On November 17, the market had lost almost half its value since the beginning of the year and fallen by about a third in just one month. One month later, however, it had recovered almost half the previous month’s loss. Why?

According to a statement released after the Latin American Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee (Claaf) meeting in December, Latin American governments could have very limited access to credit in 2009. The committee, which includes former finance ministers and central bank governors in the region, fear that Latin American borrowers could get crowded out of the credit markets as the US attempts to fund its fiscal deficit of more than $1 trillion. As large volumes of US treasury bonds are issued so the Latin governments, which face financing needs in excess of $250 billion next year, will have to develop "powerful and innovative" new mechanisms to direct money back to the region, warned the Claaf committee.

At the start of 2008, Paul Day, deputy head of research at MIG Investments, predicted that sterling would be the dog of the FX market in 2008. He reckoned that it would plunge to parity against the euro – a prediction that many thought singled him out as being barking mad.

Hybrid capital issuance threat from Deutsche Bank’s non-call.

When it comes to retaining clients, hedge funds can’t win at the moment.

Investment bankers out of a job might do well to consider a career in alternative investments in 2009.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation into the adequacy and supervision and regulation of hedge funds and private equity funds. For private equity, the focus will be on corporate governance, transparency and reporting. Issues of transparency, oversight, risk management, capital and short-selling are to be looked at as far as hedge funds are concerned.

Asia has proved less immune to the global downturn than was once thought.

The Latin American hedge fund index compiled by HFR was down 25.41% at end of November as the Brazilian real was hit, but compared with Russia/eastern Europe and Asia ex-Japan, which were down 53.95% and 35.61%, respectively, the region is the safer of the emerging markets.

Private equity firm the Carlyle Group has announced plans to cut 10% of its staff, some 100 employees. It will be the first firm-wide lay-off in the group’s 20-year history.

The liquidity crisis has contributed to a dramatic change in the trading of fixed-income securities. A year ago the curtailment of the liquidity to investors could be written off as a temporary state of affairs that would be rectified as soon as market conditions got back to normal.

Jeremy Isaacs, the former chief executive of Lehman Brothers’ European business, has set up a boutique investment firm with Roger Nagioff, Lehman’s former head of fixed income. The firm will be called JRJ Investments.

Relationships count more than ever in the world of equity trading.

Madoff should mark the end of feeder funds.

The use of technology to create a virtual single-trading environment is well understood. But while attention has tended to focus on the front end, it is just as important to get all the links in place in the post-trade area as well.

The CME has hired Mark Thompson as a director. His main task will be to look after the exchange’s hedge fund clients on the US’s eastern seaboard. Thompson, who joins the exchange from UBS, will be based in New York and report to Tina Lemieux, the exchange’s managing director, hedge funds and broker services.

The endless series of new index lows has repeatedly confounded investors who see equities as having become cheap again. The rally at the end of last year has raised hopes once more that valuations might have found a bottom. However, for some leading strategists, what looks like cheap today may not be cheap enough.

Data released by Icap, CME and CLS all provide support for what market participants have been saying for the past few weeks – liquidity is drying up. Daily turnover on Icap’s EBS platform averaged $167 billion, a fall of around 32% from November 2007 and from October 2008. Similarly, the CME saw turnover in its futures and options average 471,000 contracts a day, down 26% on November 2007. Elsewhere, CLS says it settled a daily average of 588,416 instructions with a value of $3.25 trillion. In comparison, it settled 727,934 instructions in October and 488,000 deals in November 2007. Of course, November 2007 was an exceptionally busy month, which has probably exaggerated the severity of the annualized decline.