Dave Tait has not only had a long and successful career in the FX market, but he has also climbed some notable peaks outside of the trading environment.

New report calls on multilateral to issue more benchmark bonds.

The rapid influx of new managers to the CDO market is a staffing headache for established players.

Barclays believes there’s plenty of room for growth, helped by streaming prices on its own trading platform.

Brazil’s biggest private sector bank has announced the creation of a new subsidiary, Bradesco Investment Bank. This will focus on all aspects of the local and international capital markets business as well as asset management. Bradesco is a retail powerhouse but the bank’s CEO, Marcio Cypriano, is keen to take advantage of growing capital markets activity from Brazilian entities. Cypriano told Euromoney last year: “In general, we should be bigger and better in capital markets. That business should closely match Bradesco’s retail performance.” [See Euromoney December 2005, “Bradesco's plan of attack”.]

The FSA took a couple of years but the UK regulator has finally accepted the concept of covered bonds; the Netherlands will be next.

Our December cover story, The problem with foreign exchange, has sparked debate about the structure of today's FX market. Responses to the feature are still arriving at the Euromoney office.

The syndicated loans sector’s transformation from dominance by bank holders to a growing role for institutional investors has already happened – now the predominance of hedge funds is encouraging new technology.

Grupo Santander is often considered to be among the sharpest of borrowers, and it certainly has one of the biggest profiles. José Antonio Soler, who has run its funding operation for a year and a half, talks to Alex Chambers about the group’s quest for new pools of capital and its developing issuance strategy.

Taiwan is desperately overbanked and the unprofitable financial sector is crying out for successful consolidation and rationalization, rather than ill-judged government initiatives. But that has not stopped foreign investors buying into the market for the first time. Nick Parsons reports

The market is attractive to potential foreign acquirers, but the process of acquisition is proving far from easy. Patrick Gill reports.

Latin American companies are shedding reputations for irresponsible management to become competitors, and even leaders, in the global markets. So much so that some don’t even want to be considered Latin any more. Lawrence White analyses the results of Euromoney’s first survey of the best-managed companies in the region.

Oil producers strike it rich, but long-term issues remain

The high price of oil highlights the fact that many economies are too reliant on raw materials exports, with governments creating unfavourable conditions for foreign investment through neglect or for political reasons. Florian Neuhof looks at the main drivers behind Euromoney’s latest country risk poll.

Increasing regulatory costs for hedge fund managers are leading large players to make a U-turn and look to outsource back-office functions, says Tom Kerns, global head of client reporting and product integration at Deutsche Bank Global Prime Services.

“We’ve made $100 billion of investments in the past few years. We have to be number one in every product, in every market. We have no choice. There’s no other way to go.”

Latin America’s local-currency markets are no longer a sideshow for esoteric investors. Today, many emerging market portfolio managers have exposure. But, as Felix Salmon reports, the growth of domestic supply and demand will drive these markets forward.

The country’s banks are successful and stable. But a small domestic market leaves a difficult choice: concentrate on building at home or seek to expand overseas. Laurence Neville reports.

Bank of America gets the edge with its acquisition of Financial Labs.

Further consolidation in Latin America’s banking industry is expected on the back of strong economic growth and financial stability. Foreign banks, which were active acquirers in the 1990s, are expected to play a big part in this. Leticia Lozano reports.

India’s distressed debt market has a problem. Specialist firms, often set up by a consortium of banks, buy the assets from one arm of a bank, package them up, and then have to sell them back to the original banks. After intense lobbying from firms such as Arcil, the Indian government has changed the rules. Niranjan Rajadhyaksha reports.

GDP warrants on the sovereign bond exchange are proving a hot market.

The financial rehabilitation of Korean chipmaker Hynix offers salutary lessons for the region. Once the company was an embarrassment that an entire country wanted to go away. Now its creditors will reap a bonanza from a deal that they never even wanted. Chris Leahy reports from Seoul.

Foreign investors are back in Thailand to scoop up bargains. The timing couldn’t be better for a new drive to develop the capital markets but politics could get in the way of some important deals. Peter Koh reports.

How will money be made in emerging markets debt when bid-ask margins are anorexic and expected returns uncompetitive?

Hedge fund managers are increasingly shopping around and using more than one prime broker at the same time.

The US bank has made an expensive foray into China’s banking market, with little to show from two-and-a-half years’ work and millions of dollars spent.

Argentina’s debt default, devaluation and subsequent recovery is, along with Enron’s fall from grace, the biggest financial story of the decade.

Latin America’s development bank has to change tack as countries in the region rely less on dollar funding.

Financial sponsors now account for an important chunk of advisory fees, but not all banks are cashing in.

Bond investors are starting to clamour for extra protection as buyout risk increases.