International investors clearly still have faith in the growth prospects for banks in Kazakhstan, despite the fact that the global credit crunch has hit the country harder than arguably anywhere else in emerging Europe. In late June, Alnair Capital, a private equity group backed by capital from Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nayhan, announced its intention to take a 25% stake in Kazkommertsbank, the country’s second-biggest bank by assets.

Underlying the headlines are distortions in the market that can be overcome by liberalization.

Japan’s stock markets have struggled lately as foreign investors abandon the country in droves; the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, suffers from the perception that listing on it is still too difficult for foreign companies and that it is prone to technological problems.

Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans are borrowing from a new kind of creditor, called a sofom, but experts are concerned that the unregulated lenders are charging extortionate rates of interest. In July 2006, a change in the law enabled sociedades financieras de ojeto multiple (sofomes) – financial companies that provide all classes of credit, including mortgages, car loans, personal loans, bridging loans, department store loans, credit cards, commercial loans, leasing, and microcredit – to be created.

Barings, Castlepoint, AIG, Eclectica, to name but a few, have all set up agriculture funds in the past 12 months to cash in on expected commodity price increases. And if returns to date are anything to go by, more will be joining them.

The firm appears to have timed the launch of its upgraded option system to perfection.

Jack Jeffery, former chief executive of EBS, has joined option pricing specialist SuperDerivatives as chief operations officer. Jeffery will lead SuperDerivatives’ management team and oversee the execution of its business strategy. He will be based in London. The company has also employed Anton Aucamp, who worked with Jeffery at EBS, as its head of marketing.

'The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable' is an excellent read, but anyone who talks about the credit crunch in these terms is not being intellectually honest.

Brazilian mining company Vale announced on June 12 that it had requested permission to issue $14 billion in shares to raise cash for acquisitions and growth. Vale, the world’s largest producer of iron ore, has filed with the Brazilian securities and exchange commission to sell an unspecified number of common and preferred class-A shares in Brazil and abroad, as well as US traded ADRs. In a statement the company said the money would help fund a $59 billion investment plan.

London-listed asset management group Polar Capital is looking to launch a fund later this year to take advantage of the attractive investment opportunities it believes exists in Ukraine. Earlier this year, Polar relocated its head office for emerging Europe to Kiev from Moscow, citing the growing attractiveness of the Ukrainian economy.

HBOS, whose dealing rooms operate under the name of Bank of Scotland Treasury, has made two senior appointments to its Australian FX operations. Michael Peric joined as head of trading from NAB in early June. He has been joined by Matt Brady as head of FX trading.

Euromoney’s awards for excellence recognize the banks that have best performed under difficult conditions over the past year. But what of the CEOs? Profile is everything but how can one really judge the most influential chiefs of the world’s biggest banks?

Tudor Investment Group, the $18 billion alternatives firm, has hired Greg Hanley and Alan Mintz, co-heads of the distressed debt group at Bear Stearns, to head a new business focusing on credit-related strategies. Three other Bear Stearns employees are also joining the group.

After suffering from several departures to local rivals, especially VTB, Deutsche Bank has sought to bolster its Moscow office with new hires. Alex Bronin is appointed head of emerging markets structuring for Russia/CIS, Valeri Pouchni, head of rates and FX trading, Andrey Yumatov, head of corporate derivative sales, Alex Danylenko, head of local-currency bond trading, and Diana Nikolova as a senior structurer focusing on Russian structured credit.

FSA forces disclosure of significant short positions in companies undertaking rights issues while issuers look for a quicker route to market.

Perhaps Credit Suisse is seeking to reach the parts other banks dare not reach for?

After being among the top performers of 2007, Asia-focused hedge funds are suffering this year. In 2007, the HFR Asia composite hedge fund index returned more than 17%, and the Asia ex-Japan index almost 40%. Year to end-May 2008, however, the Asia ex-Japan index is down almost 10%. If investors piled in based on past performance, they will now be kicking themselves.

The departure of Andre Esteves from UBS need not be a big setback for the Swiss bank’s fortunes in Brazil.

This time last year, Phil Green had plenty to smile about.

Icap has confirmed the launch of its web-based version of EBS.

Decision to sponsor cycling team guarantees to generate huge media coverage.

Tight spreads and a lack of differentiation between issuers are things of the past in the covered bond markets. But perhaps this is more “normal” than the bull market situation.

Institutional investment in commodity markets is boon not bane.

As the structured finance market struggles to reinvent itself, the orgy of recrimination among constituents is intensifying.

The belief that Libor is an actual rate at which banks lend substantial money to one another is a façade that the credit crunch has torn down with a vengeance.

According to a survey by Tabb Group, one in four US hedge funds is planning to open a new office outside the US in the next two years. At least 400 offices will open in the next 12 months and, depending on market conditions, a further 400 in the next two years, says the report. The majority of funds opening abroad are multi-strategy. These need to move to markets in which investment opportunities arise.

As part of the decision-making process for the Awards for Excellence, Euromoney journalists conduct numerous interviews with senior bankers who aim to convince us why they should win.

"Redemptions at par"

The biggest retailers will regret having been blind to opportunities in emerging Europe.