Permission after WTO complaint; But why Citi before HSBC?

The big players continue to dominate a profitable business line. But some investors are looking to challenge their hegemony by moving into market making as well as proprietary risk taking.

Tighter rules on imports and capital outflows; Potential export growth being stymied

Credit Suisse maintained its reputation for bonus structure creativity when times are tough with its recent move to make payments to some staff in the form of bonds linked to its own derivatives counterparty exposure. The paper will offer healthy coupons of 5% in Swiss francs or 6.5% in dollars, but without the upside offered by the original Partner Asset Facility (as it was dubbed) from 2008, which delivered a return of 70% by giving staff exposure to toxic mortgage and high-yield debt assets that had collapsed in price but later recovered value.

Derivatives dominance spells doom; Mifid undermines traditional model

More Chinese companies repatriate; Shanda Interactive ‘to list subsidiary’

Banks told to raise buffers; Weaker banks dependent on ECB

By piling up the burden on banks, regulators have started a shrinking of the banking industry that they can no longer control and that markets are accelerating. This threatens the real economy, and market participants want to delay and review of the new rules. Regulators are divided. Some want to pause, most want to press on, but they are all united in their desire for one thing: not to take any blame.

AUD, CAD, NOK, SEK on precipice; Risk of value reversal

All economic indicators suggest the country is a global growth market. Except one: its capital markets are small and underdeveloped. Bankers bemoan a lack of investors; investors say there are not enough products. A new stock exchange head aims to break the impasse. Could SMEs bring the market out of its shell?

It’s been a good start to the year for Asian debt capital markets. Sovereigns have issued, high yield is back. But will the deal flow continue to rise?

The market for funding Europe’s banks is becoming ever more dysfunctional. The ECB continues to amass ever-greater volumes of ABS as desperate banks scramble to pledge it against cheap funding. Could this dynamic push ABS to be rehabilitated from the source of all evil to the font of desperately needed liquidity?

Munibond fears abate; Volcker Rule may stem liquidity

The big players continue to dominate a profitable business line. But some investors are looking to challenge their hegemony by moving into market making as well as proprietary risk taking.

Bolivia is preparing to issue a $500 million international bond, primarily as a statement about the strengthening of the country’s finances.

Local firms are making the most of the purge of bad debts from the system and the opportunities that efforts to indiginize the oil industry offer.

Facebook’s pending multi-billion dollar IPO is raising the spectre of a new tech bubble. Bankers argue that today’s tech and social media boom is different to that of the late 1990s. But the competition for mandates is more pressing than ever.

BTMU expands FX business outside Japan; Strong yen boosts Japanese M&A flow

New deals spur CNH market development; Structural issues remain

Some have called the markets’ punishment of Portugal unfair – after all, it has kept up its side of the bargain with the troika – but NPLs continue to dog the banks. Could the struggle to find a solution at home come from opportunities abroad?

Deals are more than numbers and synergies – they’re about the people involved. If the Glencore and Xstrata deal goes through, it will have a big effect on the M&A league tables but it might also stumble over a regulatory fence on the way. Abigail Hofman dissects the possible creation of a $90 billion conglomerate