Financiers in the Caribbean are planning to establish a region-wide capital markets exchange to create a financial hub with critical mass.

Europe’s government bond auctions are a classic example of market failure. The department of Charlie McCreevy, the EU’s markets commissioner, knows this but can do nothing until it receives an official complaint. If banks are subsidizing the auction process to the tune of €600 million a year, as some claim, why don’t they make the call to Brussels?

The eagerly awaited opening up of mainland China to Reits investment continues to hang fire but the market is hot elsewhere in the region, with retail and institutional investors piling into new issues. Some in the market, though, reckon that investors often have over-inflated expectations of Reits’ returns and a poor grasp of the complexities of the deals. Chris Wright reports.

Despite brighter prospects for the Japanese economy, corporate issuers are not rushing back to the international or domestic bond markets. Chris Wright reports.

Why the European government bond markets have failed...and what the European Union would like to do about it

Lebanon puts itself back at the hub

Richard Longmore, head of EMEA FX sales, has abruptly left Merrill Lynch.

Bayer has played white knight for the second time this year. The German chemicals company rescued Schering from the clutches of Merck in March with a €16.5 billion offer

Spain’s securitization market grew by more than 35% last year, driven by demand for more, and more flexible, mortgage credit. Specialist investors are now hoping that issuers can be persuaded to sell first-loss exposure to this risk. This comes, though, as concerns grow about the potential fallout from a seemingly unsustainable house price boom. Louise Bowman reports.

The ballooning demand for mortgage credit in Spain is attracting new players and more flexible products.

Although banks have been leading securitization developments so far in Russia, the monopoly railroad infrastructure provider has come to market with the country’s first transaction backed by lease receivables. Kathryn Wells reports.

Japanese government-guaranteed issuers such as DBJ and JBIC have been among the largest issuers of debt from Japan. With reform of these agencies in the pipeline, what plans do they have for issuance as interest in the Japanese economy picks up?

One year on, new bonds offer good value.

Is there too much capital trying to find a home?

A busy sporting calendar means a burgeoning expense account for many investment banks.

British Land’s decision to convert to a Reit might prompt the restructuring of its Meadowhall securitization.

UBS has appointed Tom Fox and Matthew Koder as joint global heads of equity capital markets, replacing Lucinda Riches, who has headed the division for the past seven years.

Venture capital in Latin America, led by Brazil, Chile and Mexico, has come a long way since 2003, when the industry raised just $417 million in funds. Last year, the figure reached $2 billion, according to the Latin American Venture Capital Association and, if Brazil can realize its potential, the figure could double by 2008. Brazilian pension funds, with about $120 billion in their portfolios, are making venture capital-linked investments for the first time ever this year, led by state oil workers pension fund Petros.

After years of unfulfilled promise, there is the whiff of optimism in Indonesia as government tackles tangled economic and political challenges. Euromoney spoke to Indonesia’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, about problems, progress and promise. Chris Leahy reports.

Bankruptcy of Nici shows vulnerability of small German SME securitizations.

US inflation fears spooked nervous markets this May, causing the biggest one-day falls in years. In the space of a week, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the FTSE 100 gave up their entire gains for the year. Both indices shed about 7%. Markets took fright at the larger-than-expected 0.6% rise in April’s US consumer prices, which also spilled over into commodities markets. Although many think the sell-off has been exaggerated, May’s Merrill Lynch’s Global Fund Manager Survey shows growing pessimism about inflation and corporate profits. The survey shows a sharp increase in the percentage of fund managers who expect a rise in core inflation, to 64% from 47% a month earlier. A net 9% of fund managers also expect corporate profits to deteriorate while a net 27% except operating margins to deteriorate. Nevertheless, half the sectors in the S&P500 have been posting double-digit earnings growth. Despite the uninspiring outlook for equities, bonds are still looking overvalued to a net 48% of respondents while equities by contrast are still looking underpriced to a net 3% of investors.

HSBC’s decision to tell the world in advance when it is will carry out a large FX transaction to pay its non-dollar based shareholders their dividends is transparent. But is it wise?

The dealers at Scottish Widows cemented their reputation as smart traders by winning the Goldman Sachs trading game at the Trade Tech Equities conference for a second year in a row.

Spacs increasingly interested in listing on UK's Alternative Investment Market.

Reports of the death of analysis have been greatly exaggerated. Time and again, analysts are proving their worth in league tables and through innovation and bespoke research. But ‘me-too’ forecasting is a hard habit to break.

Buy-to-let mortgage originators in the UK market have often argued that these assets should be seen as prime assets rather than non-conforming.

“Financial institutions should put customers’ needs first”, according to a report published by PriceWaterhouseCoopers on May 24. But should their services extend to matchmaking for young journalists? One of Euromoney’s débutant hacks was secretly pleased on a recent trip back from Moscow when his host bank’s head of IR forgot her passport: the subsequent delay meant a missed flight back to London, and a chance to watch the Champions’ League final in Vienna with the bank’s PR man and a gentleman from the Austrian media.

Time is running out for Eurotunnel as it tries to refinance its debt.

Barely a month seems to pass without either the launch of a new foreign exchange trading platform or at the least a significant enhancement and upgrade to an existing one.