Eike Batista is intent on bucking the market. He wants to make idle private equity work. Bankers love his energy and mining businesses despite the downturn in global commodities. Can Brazil’s richest man keep delivering? Chloe Hayward reports.

Talk that several countries have entered a competitive devaluation race is wide of the mark.

Robert Bell and Robert Palache have formed Bell Capital Partners – a boutique advisory firm that will provided specialized financing advice in the real estate sector.

Bain Capital has reportedly proposed waiving the 2% management fee on several of its private equity funds.

RBC Capital Markets has hired Natasha Brook-Walters as its global head of institutional FX sales. Brook-Walters, who will be based in London, was most recently at Morgan Stanley. She will report to Ed Monaghan, RBC’s co-head of fixed income and currencies, Europe. RBC has been steadily expanding its European business over the past 12 months.

UAE loan buys time and gives options – but which to take?

Global firms are once again rolling back their commitment to Asia. Will they never learn?

What good is abundant liquidity unless it flows into the wider economy?

The impact of the credit crunch spread across the world over the past 12 months. Eastern Europe was badly hit, and the Middle East and Asia could no longer claim to be immune.

Regulators see a chance to hammer hedge funds and are determined to take it.

If you are going to throw money at a problem, throw it at the right problem.

BNDES spending can only prop up the economy for so long.

Emerging Europe needs a coordinated bank bailout – and fast.

A risk manager at a large European bank now being propped up by its government after losing billions explains how the bank’s executives used to think about regulation. One question, he recalls, used to dominate its dealmakers’ meetings with the bank’s own legal counsel: “Can we get away with this?” No one ever asked: “Should we be doing this?”

Thailand’s new finance minister is doing everything he can to get the country’s fundamentally sound banks lending again. He must also cope with political instability. Will Korn Chatikavanij be able to see the job through? asks Eric Ellis.

The role of treasurer must be confined to prudent funding, investment and risk management, not making a profit.

Eighteen months ago, the chief executives of major financial firms were revered. We envied their elevated status – the jets, the bodyguards, the limousines and the layers of gatekeepers. Now these men are reduced to squirming schoolchildren who’ve been caught stealing from the communal cookie jar.