Euromoney is a great believer in mucking in with the tough jobs. So, in a recent media versus Barclays Capital football challenge in Singapore for the Beyond Social Services children’s charity, your correspondent put up his hand to go in goal. We had expected to be facing a few unfit FX traders. Instead we found ourselves playing a team from EPSN Star Sports who had brought along Steve McMahon, the former Liverpool and England player, renowned as one of the true hard men of the English game through the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The country should not be held up as a model for other peripheral sovereigns to follow.

The bank hasn’t pushed too hard into marquee investment banking businesses; Shareholders stand to benefit from a low cost-income ratio and high returns

Has Barclays perfected the art of interest rate alchemy? It seems to think it might be close to mastery of the vagaries of interest rate curve management, judging by statements in its recently released annual report for 2010. Barclays said that interest rate hedges of product balances such as deposits had generated a gain of £1.403 billion ($2.28 billion) in 2010, while comparable hedges of group equity brought in £1.788 billion.

Morgan Stanley is seeking out the niche in the wealth management business that used to belong to Merrill Lynch.

BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Macquarie were selected in late February by the Mongolian government to run the IPO of the country’s Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi mining assets, according to sources familiar with the deal. The IPO, which is expected to raise more than $2 billion, is viewed as a potential landmark for Mongolia. Consequently, the world’s top investment banks have been pitching furiously in Ulaan Baatar since January this year. Officials at the banks named told Euromoney that they did not wish to comment on the deal, presumably for fear of offending their rumoured client. However, three independent sources have confirmed the four firms as being mandated.

Strong demand from conventional investors; regulatory support, hunger for yield, a simple structure and clever timing.

The equity transaction that Petrobras priced on September 23 last year set a world record. The deal was skilfully executed but many of the arguments that divided investor opinion on the transaction rumble on. Rob Dwyer tells the inside story.

Loans grow in appeal for both banks and munis; State infrastructure banks offer viable alternative

The expected big bust in US commercial real estate never happened, and investors are starting to move in. That’s good news for US banks that have portfolios under water. But are the loan owners and investors being overly confident? Helen Avery reports.

Takes controlling stake in troubled lender PanAmericano; Investment expected to be treated as private equity

The bank finds that it can’t have its cake and eat it.

From Punch Taverns to a string of commercial real estate-backed deals, borrowers and bondholders in distressed European securitizations are squaring up for a bitter fight. The chaotic process by which these structures threaten to unravel will be a lasting legacy of the ABS binge. Louise Bowman reports.

The merger of the Peruvian and Colombian stock exchanges will transform the equity capital markets of the Andean region and help them to compete with Brazil for investment, say local experts. Jason Mitchell reports.

The return of Bill Winters to the financial markets was something of a damp squib, at least to those who had come to view him as the once and future king of investment banking.

At least three SOEs expected to list; Debate over currency unresolved

The wilderness years may be the title of a TV mini-series but it could as easily be a state of mind. I have been thinking about those who are in exile. Obviously potentates such as Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the former president of Tunisia, come to mind, but might the phrase also apply to senior bankers who are temporarily resting?

Erstwhile cornerstone investors have fled the worst-affected parts of the developed-world government bond markets as credit concerns infect the once risk-free rates world. Volatility has risen while liquidity between dealers is much diminished and periodically evaporates. Yet bank dealers still see money to be made in this exciting new world and are opening their balance sheets to issuers and investors. Some will no doubt live to regret it. Peter Lee reports.

The three established leaders have high market shares and plenty of rivals. Large banks, recovering from their own recent near-death experiences, have singled out rates as one of the first businesses to fight their way back into. Newcomers are pitching in too. Peter Lee reports.

A new Euromoney survey shows three established leaders have high market shares and plenty of rivals. Large banks, recovering from their own near-death experiences, have singled out rates as one of the first businesses to fight their way back into. Newcomers are pitching in too.

Inflation is back, and so are inflation markets after a three-year hiatus brought on by the financial crisis. With some central banks happy to let their economies reflate to foster employment and a sustained recovery, inflation-linked debt might be the best bet in town. Hamish Risk reports.

Turkey’s ambition for an investment-grade rating might be realized this year. Strong fundamentals and political stability almost guarantee it. But if it gets a triple-B rating, two problems remain. What can foreign investors buy, and will making the grade undermine further reform? Nick Lord reports.

With Portugal struggling to pay its debts and the economy shrinking, the 
country needs help. Enter Angola – oil rich, with money to burn, and Portugal’s former prized colony. Angolan investment is growing fast – and nowhere more quickly than in the country’s troubled banks. Some Portuguese are up in arms about it. Sudip Roy reports.

Huseyin Erkan is chairman and chief executive of the Istanbul Stock Exchange and one of the main proponents of a deepening of Turkey’s capital markets. The potential for new securities, markets and issuers is there but many bridges need to be crossed. Erkan speaks to Nick Lord.

The 2011 guide to Technology in Treasury Management