The US firm is committed to breaking into the European debt markets – again

Subordinated debt gives treasurers a new means of raising equity capital

Investors may need more convincing if the inflation-linked market is to take off

ABN Amro is handing down its underperforming US high-grade business to wholly owned

Germany's deal shows how corporate techniques are firming up government balance sheets

Germany's industrial heartland, the Ruhr, is adapting well to a world after steel and coal. But when the country's top bankers met there in Essen last month they wondered long and hard about the ability of the rest of Germany to cope with economic change

Santander's retail banking specialists' biggest challenge to date will be to turn around the fortunes of Abbey. Can the Spanish bank's model be successfully applied to the highly competitive UK market?

Singapore: CAO executives charged

The German exchange aims to take on CME to tap the growing interest in FX as an asset class

"In 1994 banks held 70% of all loans. That's now dropped to 29%. Institutional investors now hold 64% of loans. That's not syndicated lending, it's capital markets. They need to change the name."

"This is the best year without a doubt. We are not in the charity business, right? We are doing this to make money and you can rest assured we are very successful in our business." -An unnamed banker making one of the more aggressive – and honest – pitches for a Euromoney Award for Excellence

UK boutique warehouses and bulks up fund managers' troublesome unwanted shares, offering a return within three years

Fund management:

After New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer's appearance last year, whoever was guest speaker at the New York Financial Writers annual awards dinner this June was always going to have a tough act to follow. In fact, William McDonough, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, made a very good fist of it.

Fighting corruption, the scourge of the Philippines, was a major platform of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's election campaign in 2004. Elected, one would expect her to be proud of the zeal with which some in her administration are tackling the issue. It seems some of her colleagues were not so certain, however, and chose to take matters into their own hands.

Economy shows further signs of life

But competition will get tougher for wealth managers, according to a recent survey

The proposed removal of a cap on pension funds' foreign holdings could change the shape of Canadian fund management

Equity markets are geared for a surge in Chinese issues

Kensington concerns:

The masters of retail banking | Getting back to the Abbey habit | Awards for excellence - Best bank

Greater competition and increasingly complex customer needs are forcing service providers to reassess their strategies.

Banks miffed at Deutsche's fees

The tool will track the euro against major trading currencies and provide an important non-central bank benchmark

Signs of a revival of investor interest in convertible arbitrage hedge fund strategies as funds spot opportunities in a depressed market

Schell to Citi Citigroup has hired Michael Schell to become vice-chairman of global banking from law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, where he was senior partner and senior member of the mergers and acquisitions group. Schell will take up his position at the beginning of August. This is the second senior hire by Citigroup into its advisory business in two months, following the recruitment of Raymond McGuire from Morgan Stanley in May.

The bank is set to snatch Goldman's crown for the first half of 2005

In another example of Hutchison Whampoa raising cash to continue the long-term funding of its loss-making 3G business, the conglomerate announced in June the sale of stakes in Hong Kong's port operations to Singapore arch-rival PSA International. The group, led by Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing, announced the sale of a 20% interest in cash cow Hutchison International Terminals (HIT) and a 10% stake in Cosco-HIT, a joint venture with China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co.

Cash-rich investors are looking to put their money to work

Investors' willingness to accept shares in foreign-owned companies could lead to a boom in European activity