Government seeks foreign investors; Opportunities in real estate, cement and power

Governments should cede control of fiscal policy.

The latest SIV auction has proved a welcome fillip for the structured finance market.

International banks might not get the rich pickings they crave in the People’s Republic.

Kiwi funds outperform global index; Investor interest grows

$1 billion deal six times oversubscribed; Could provide covered bond template for region’s other banks

Japanese currency becalmed despite bad news; Possible US move would prompt sell-off

While there were a few signs of the impact of the credit crunch – a couple of the normal players were absent and the standard of freebies was marginally lower than in 2008 – it was pretty much business as usual at the Euromoney Forex Forum.

Funds reassess investment strategy; Positive outlook for private equity

The first question many asked at this year’s Euromoney FX poll dinner (see photos below) was: how could the European football authorities be so stupid? Uefa, in its wisdom, had decided to hold the second leg of the crunch semi-final between London’s finest football team, Chelsea, and arch-European rivals Barcelona on the very same night as the dinner. How could Uefa be so cruel to the hundreds of Chelsea fans – most of whom are, strangely, US citizens – who had already committed themselves to attend the dinner? I even felt sorry for Mark Warms, general manager of Europe at FXall and a Chelsea season-ticket holder, who was doubly frustrated as his company sponsored the dinner. As we all now know, Chelsea were cheated out of the victory they deserved. Brad Leek from RBS and Sean Comer from Barclays oddly made a similar claim in the taxi on the way home about their respective rankings in the poll, at which point I fell asleep. It’s good to see that such – I won’t call it honest – competition remains in FX.

Many banks already offer investable indices, but Parker Global Strategies says its new product is an innovation that will ultimately lead to far wider acceptance of foreign exchange (FX) as an asset class. Parker, in partnership with BlackTree Investment Partners, the London-based investment management firm, has created the Parker BlackTree Currency Indices (PBCI).

Boutique equity trading firms turn to research; Trend brings new forms of analysis

In early May, Icap hosted the fifth International Rouble Settlement Forum at its London headquarters. The meeting was chaired once again by Darryl Hooker, global emerging market manager at Icap Electronic Broking. Hooker has played a key role in bringing together a diverse range of market participants to try to drag the rouble market into the 21st century and no doubt he will have been pleased to see the forum so well attended; for the first time, representatives from CLS, Swift and the Russian central bank were all brought together in one room.

The emerging market equity boom might turn out to be leverage-fuelled.

No to quantitative easing; End of repo facility eyed?

Emerging markets specialist announces raft of hires; Opportunities in equities and commodities

Even as shares rallied last month, some banks reported severe problems. KBC’s write-downs of insurance from MBIA on a previously undisclosed €14.4 billion collateralized debt obligation portfolio hammered the Belgian bank’s results, turning a modest €465 million first-quarter operating profit into a €3.6 billion loss.

Debtholders pushing back; Sponsors frustrated in restructuring plans

Big names have been recruited in ECM; they must help pay the bill for a secondary market presence.

Wilmot-Sitwell and Kengeter take charge; Misra hire counters key staff departures

Banks moved quickly to sell equity last month; After reducing their underweight position, investors will get choosier

Local governments under pressure to service judicial payments debt; Lawyers concerned about possible technical default

Markets must soon learn not to react to agency sabre-rattling.

Veteran launches $1 billion holding company; Targets banking, wealth and insurance

One banker contrives a metaphor to defend the universal banking model. If you set two BMW 5 Series cars to race around a track and only one makes it back, that tells you that one of the drivers made a mistake, not that the BMW is a bad car. So don’t junk universal banking, through a forced separation into utility banking, comprising retail deposit-taking and commercial lending, away from trading in securities, just to punish the mistakes of poor chief executives who drove their banks into a wall in the reckless pursuit of profits in complex instruments that they didn’t understand, using leveraged proprietary risk-taking they couldn’t control.

As banks cut back, leading prop trading boutiques grow; Can banking and prop trading co-exist?

Barclays was the bank that many expected to fail. Recapitalized, with its earnings power enhanced, safe from the clutches of the UK taxpayer, it may emerge as one of the big winners from the crisis. The bank’s leaders expect to build dominant positions in both retail and investment banking. What could still throw Varley, Diamond & Co off course?

Geithner wants greater oversight of OTC derivatives; Regulation benefits e-platforms and exchanges

Julius Baer has separated its private banking and asset management businesses into two entities. A person familiar with the firm said there had been some management conflict as pressure to push internal products was affecting the reputation of the bank.

Larry Fink wants BlackRock to be one of the key names in finance for the future. Consolidation of investment managers – possibly including BGI – may achieve that goal. But his firm’s influence on the present is already great, as adviser of choice to banks and governments alike on problem assets totalling $7 trillion. Peter Lee reports.