Hedge fund research group HFR says that in response to enquiries from investors, it is launching an index of hedge funds run by women and minorities called the Diversity Index. Since January 2003, the number of minority and women-owned hedge funds in the HFR database has doubled to more than 100. HFR president Ken Heinz says that requests have come from institutional investors that are required to invest a certain percentage with minority groups. On a historical basis, from January 2003 to May 2007, the index would have produced an annualized net return of 11.26%.

HVB has continued the build-up of its FX business with several senior-level sales appointments, including Mark Sweeting, who it enticed from ABN Amro in London. The bank also hired Toby Angel from JPMorgan, Peter Graham from Pru-Bache and Sue Rasmussen from ANZ.

"OK, so I screwed up. Even my COO called me up and said: "Great pitch mate, really compelling – shame about the logo on the top of the page"

The switch to lower minimum price increments that came into effect in the US listed equity options market in February is making the market more efficient, according to a report. Earlier this year, the US options industry switched its minimum price increment from $0.05 (nickels) to $0.01 (pennies) in 13 key option classes under a pilot programme mandated by the SEC. The switch to penny pricing is already having a positive impact for users of equity options, according to Aite Group, a US consultancy firm.

Foreign bank interest in Turkey’s fast-growing banking market shows no sign of slowing down, with ING of the Netherlands the latest new entrant into the country’s increasingly cosmopolitan financial services sector. In June, ING signed a contract with the Armed Forces Pension Fund (Oyak), to acquire its subsidiary, Oyak Bank.

The third draft of Italy’s covered bond legislation has been published.

Traders hoping that an uptick in volatility is here to stay should be careful what they wish for.

Rob Lichten has left his role as global head of FX sales and trading at JPMorgan to take what the bank described as a long sabbatical. His decision came after the bank decided to merge its G10 FX and rates businesses and combine all its emerging markets into its wider EM platform. The bank later announced that Chris Willcox and Matt Zames would co-head global rates and currency trading, excluding Asia ex-Japan.

UniCredit stole a march on its banking rivals in late June with the signing of an agreement to buy at least 85% of Kazakhstan’s fifth-largest financial services provider, ATF Bank. The roughly $2.2 billion transaction will catapult the Italian bank to the top of the foreign bank pile in the oil-rich central Asian republic, with UniCredit leapfrogging such rivals as Citi, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and ING, which all have long-established operations in the country.

All the global players have a presence in Australia, which is the fourth-largest asset management market in the world. Chris Wright looks at their strategies.

The ability to hold a tune may not be top of the list of talents required to succeed in the cut-throat structured finance industry – but that could all be set to change. Not many sectors of the capital markets industry can boast their very own band but the ABS market can: the painfully entitled D’Leverage.

Optimism that the launch of collateralized foreign exchange obligations (CFXO) would attract a new range of participants to the market (see Structured products: CFXOs bring in new investors, Euromoney June 2007) now looks well founded. Merrill Lynch says that it attracted more than €1 billion ($1.34 billion) for its recently launched CFXO, which is managed by Crédit Agricole Asset Management. "The deal went much better than we even expected," says Atanas Bostandjiev, managing director and head of structured rates and FX marketing, EMEA, at Merrill. "The roadshow in Europe alone raised the global target. Compared with CDOs that have been launched on non-traditional assets, this has been excellent."

Global Maritime Investments fund has annualized net returns of more than 30%. Founder/partner Steve Rodley of manager M2M explains to Helen Avery how shipping hedge funds are meeting investor demand for diversification and performance.

William Cumming, former European head of Citi’s global special situations group (GSSG), is on the move again. He has quit Citi for rival RBS, joining the UK bank’s private equity division in New York. Cumming moved to Citi’s GSSM just over a year ago in April 2006. Before that he had been co-head of the bank’s European securitization business with David Basra since 2004. In his new role Cumming will be working alongside Lindsay McMurray, who rejoined RBS in October 2005 after quitting the bank in April 2004 to join Drawbridge Capital, sister company of Fortress Investments. During her time away from RBS she also spent a few months at Merrill Lynch.

Jack Jeffery, chief executive of electronic broking at Icap, quit the broker almost a year to the day after its purchase of EBS. Jeffery, who was parachuted into EBS from Citi in February 2002, had overseen EBS’s integration into Icap, which moved swiftly to replace him, announcing that market veteran John Nixon had assumed the role.

The sheer size and influence of sovereign wealth funds is attracting attention – not all of it positive.

Wall Street investment bankers were agog at the news. Could it really be that Jimmy Quigley, debt capital markets legend and icon of Merrill Lynch’s dominance of the primary bond markets in the 1990s, had become an accountant?

There’s trouble brewing in the Chinese stock market. But a short, sharp shock could be just what is needed.

The buzz surrounding the launch of the new Q-WIXX CDS trading platform suggests that it is one of the most eagerly awaited, and supported, product launches in years.

WHAT’S WANTED is quality of products and services, competitive prices, social responsibility and a deep commitment to the environment and ethics – Brazil’s high flyers are a picky lot when they opt for a bank, surveys find. One bank, though, fits the bill better than any other: Banco Itaú. Brazil’s biggest private sector bank delivers not just on these eclectic areas but also in income growth, strong profits and shareholder value for investors. It is the leader in its class not just in Brazil, but a benchmark for all banks in Latin America. Its achievements are recognised by Euromoney’s award for best bank in Latin America. Itaú’s philosophy of listening to the market and giving it the products and services it wants, together with keeping a tight lid on costs, is behind the bank’s ability to produce this balance. Its core philosophy is market-led expansion strategies, not grandiose, management-driven plans. Adaptability, an ability to spot good, organic commercial opportunities, together with a knack for buying and integrating companies flows from that market-driven mind-set. Speed helps, particularly in a market where lumbering government-owned banks are still leading players.