It's often the smaller deeds that prove most important in the long run, and that is what Goldman Sachs is hoping will be the case with a new data service it is launching.

There's nothing like a good piece of news management. UBS had the chance to show its skills with its handling of Markus Granziol's departure.

Big mergers at the end of the 1990s, followed by banking scandals, have led to widespread changes at the top of Spanish banks. Exposure to Argentina has caused further headaches. The big two, SCH and BBVA, which are adjusting to their new identities, will be hoping that the worst is over.

The five-year battle between Nasdaq and ECNs is heating up. Nasdaq launches SuperMontage in July, a worthy rival to the ECNs’ trading systems that could win back dealflow. Meanwhile ECNs are depriving Nasdaq of crucial revenue. Is this the start of the trading endgame?

Talk of an exchange for foreign exchange has been around for almost as long as e-trading platforms but none of them has so far have precipitated a move in that direction. Instinet FX Cross, a joint venture between Instinet and CitiFX, may prove to be different.

"In a world of free trade and global economy, Americans are suffering severely. We have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to our own people as we struggle to compete in the New World." This battle cry for US self-help comes from an unexpected source - a dispute between US bondholders and the Chinese government over unpaid debt.

Companies are finding it increasingly difficult to fund in orthodox markets. So despite essentially misguided comparisons with the sort of special purpose vehicles put together by Enron, securitization programmes are becoming increasingly popular with borrowers and investors.

As the ratings agencies threaten further sovereign downgrades, Japan’s government guaranteed issuers face new challenges. Their government funding is being cut and they must borrow more in their own right. That may bring surprising advantages.

Head of global markets for Asia, Deutsche Bank