ECM syndicate merry-go-round BNP Paribas has hired Florence Sztuder from SG to replace Tom Kennedy, who left the bank in April, as head of equity syndicate.

What was it that Donald Rumsfeld famously said? "There are known knowns, the things we know we know. There are known unknowns, things we know we don't know. And then there are the unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know."

Options:

The unwinding of correlation model price-driven trades has caused losses, but the credit markets have withstood the post-GM fallout

UBS economist Jonathan Anderson describes its as "one of the most, nay, the most overly-hyped themes in the markets today". But the question of when and if the Chinese renminbi – currently pegged at 8.28 renminbi to one US dollar – will be revalued against the US currency continues to fascinate and obsess global foreign exchange markets. There appears to be a growing consensus among analysts that the Chinese government will make some adjustment to the peg in the near future, perhaps even in the present quarter.

As the huge US and global debt bubbles burst under the weight of the cost of servicing, the US is certainly not the place for investors to be this year. Look instead to Europe, Japan, cash and gold

The New York Stock Exchange's historic deal with electronic rival Archipelago and Nasdaq's acquisition of rival I-Net dramatically reshape US cash equities trading. But what do they mean for OTC and listed trading, regional exchanges, and users now that the SEC's controversial Reg NMS has been passed? Peter Koh reports.

Many funds say the fall-out from GM/Ford has been overstated

Delay could mean SEC is reconsidering terms

Looming implementation of the EU Prospectus Directive is adding momentum

With Greece continuing to run budget deficits that are unpalatable to credit rating agencies and breach EU guidelines, the government must look beyond tax increases to deal with the problem. Dimitris Kontogiannis reports.

The potential for a López Obrador administration has hit stock markets

Raiffeisenbank International's CEO, Herbert Stepic, says he intends to use the profits from Raiffeisen's successful IPO on April 21 to bid for Aval Bank, the second-biggest bank in Ukraine. He says: "We are in good negotiations with the owners [private Ukrainian investors] and we hope to come to terms by the start of June." The deal would be one of RZB's largest acquisitions in eastern Europe. Aval Bank has the largest retail banking business in Ukraine, with total assets of €1.5 billion.

A Goldman Sachs trading game at the Trade Tech Equities conference in Paris this April was billed as "five hours to make a million."

The Asian bond markets have given investors an easy ride in the past two years. Now, with inflation and interest rate uncertainty, buyers need to be smarter.

The problem with CDOs

Is Germany really ready for full-blooded capitalism? That was the theme of the first Euromoney German Capital Markets Forum, which saw a lively debate on how Germany will finance itself in the future.

Borrower matches investor demand for yield as well as long-dated assets

News that Knight Trading has agreed to acquire Attain, a small ECN, passed almost unnoticed as the securities industry's attention was focused on the New York Stock Exchange's dramatic decision to merge with electronic rival Archipelago, and on Nasdaq's acquisition of I-Net.

Brazil: keep your eye on the ball

Real estate investment trusts have taken off dramatically in Japan, providing a new way to invest in the property market and an attractive rate of return compared to other investment products. Can the boom last? Andy Wright reports.

Combined group has the potential to be a domestic market leader

The Chinese government is at it again. Having already spent at least $45 billion in what may well prove to be vainglorious attempts to fix the country's ailing state-owned banking system, the People's Bank of China (PBC) announced that the State Council has decided to part with another $15 billion of foreign exchange reserves to shore up the capital base of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, by assets, the nation's largest bank.

A research report published in May by the Institute for Monetary and Economic Research, part of Korea's central bank, recommends that regulators in Korea promote more investment in domestic banks by domestic investors at the expense of foreign capital.

Cash rich investors are looking to put their money to work

Despite concerns, long-only funds are trying to flatter their returns

Singapore: REITS get more sophisticated A series of recent transactions from Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in Singapore, the de facto non-Japan Asia centre for the specialist property investment vehicles, are proving not only the popularity of the asset class with investors but also their flexibility as funding vehicles for real estate assets.

Global private equity firms increasingly have Asia in their sights. CVC Capital Partners (CVC) a privately owned investment and advisory company, has closed its $1.975 billion Asia Pacific Fund, CVC's second Asia fund and a joint venture with former parent Citigroup.

Since the adoption of an enabling law in 1999, Portugal's securitization market has grown rapidly, embracing many of the innovative techniques and influences seen elsewhere in Europe. With a new law allowing issuance of covered bonds expected this year, structured finance volumes look set to grow. And the market remains eager for further innovation. Sarfraz Thind reports.

The rapid pace of development in issuance and investment techniques means that the progression of real estate to become a global asset class in its own right is not far away. Clive Horwood reports.