Citi and Tata’s deal irks regulator; Further bank-backed bonds banned

If you’re thinking recovery and green shoots, think again. Robert Gover, an economist-cum-astrologist, says the planetary alignments portend a decline in the US markets beginning in August, accelerating into a crash by October. A Grand Cross, whereby four planets form oppositions to each other in outer space that resemble a cross on a celestial chart is what is coming up, says Gover. Grand Crosses were present in all of the US’s severe depressions. It’s going to be lumpy for the stock markets from then until 2012, when it will get worse until 2015. So much for green shoots.

Bankers confident after record Visanet deal; Market volatility, though, means issuance will be selective

At the annual Euromoney Borrowers and Investors Forum last month, the great and the good of the sovereign, supranational and agency issuer community gathered in London to meet market participants.

Running a bank in Qatar appears to be getting easier all the time. The local government’s latest bailout plan for its financial sector will involve the state clearing up to $4.1 billion of troubled real estate loans and investment from lenders’ balance sheets.

Big overseas holders of US dollar assets, with China at the forefront, will not be sold another pup. Instead of supporting wayward US financial policies they will increasingly diversify to other currencies.

Dramatic fall in growth; Bankruptcy looms without bailout funds

Stronger investor appetite for emerging market risk since the start of the second quarter of the year combined with higher oil and gas prices is helping to reopen the international equity markets to energy companies operating in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Have we learnt anything from the unsettling events of the past nine months? I have learnt that bankers have short memories and exceptionally short recall regarding painful reminiscences. Maybe it’s part of the human condition. It certainly seems to be part of a banker’s DNA.

The credit crunch and recession will reshape finance and markets in some surprising ways.

Jobs are scarce and job interviews competitive but how far would you go to get noticed? From a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com, an online jobs site in the US, apparently candidates are willing to try any tricks. Here’s a selection of tactics that employers reported during the survey:

A seven-day, six-stage, 250 kilometre race across the desert in China, the contest sounds gruelling enough but perhaps will have come as light relief after the last 18 months of hardship in the workplace.

Ajay Banga has left Citi to become president and COO of MasterCard after less than a year at the helm of the US bank’s Asia-Pacific business. The news is a blow to Citi, which was in the process of reorganizing its Asian businesses under Banga as detailed in a May story in Euromoney, ‘Banga demolishes Citi’s Asia-Pac silos’. Although Citi declined to comment officially on the move beyond a statement saying that a successor would be appointed soon, sources within the firm and outside it are already speculating on who that might be. The frontrunners are believed to be Shengman Zhang, the firm’s regional president, and Stephen Bird, head of the firm’s Asia consumer business and of the key north Asia region. Another candidate mentioned is Farhan Faruqui, a rapidly rising star within the firm who now heads the global banking business for Asia, although a source within the firm speculated that it might be "a little too soon for Farhan [to reach that level]".

In Citi’s desperate attempt to win the coveted best bank in Honduras award it drew on all its staff’s experiences from the past 12 months. In the column entitled 2008 Recognition & Awards, the US bank was proud to announce its community service prize... all well and good. But it was also keen to bring to Euromoney’s attention its prowess on the sporting field: "First place in the Basketball Bank Association League, Male Category."

"It’s all very well looking at league tables this year, but you have to realize that one of those at the top was standing there with a gun to the clients’ heads. I think we all know who"

Team inherited from ABN Amro leaves

SC expands as cashless competitors retreat; Tough markets mean deals stuck on the books

Debt restructurings are untested process; Demand for new sovereign sukuk still strong

Cuba to roll over €200 million of bonds; Economy under strain from financial downturn and hurricanes

"Some of them had seen Barbarians at the gate so we were a little nervous as to how they would react to the news that KKR had won," says a banker advising Anheuser-Busch InBev on its sale of Korea’s Oriental Brewery to KKR.

The banking sector in emerging Europe is likely to experience an outright fall in total assets this year, according to a report issued last month.

The financial crisis has prompted corporates to scrutinize more closely the risk presented by their bank counterparties. Laurence Neville reports.

Oh how the mighty are fallen. When one banker asked Euromoney whether we were attending the Global ABS conference in Kilburn he was using poetic licence – Kilburn is much further up Edgware Road. But we knew what he meant.