Regarding Euromoney's March 2006 cover story: “Inside Argentina’s financial crisis” written by Guillermo Nielsen, Argentina’s former finance secretary.

In this edition, don't miss: Abigail's opinion of Lehman's Board of Directors and of Jeremy Isaacs' realm; her advice to Bank of America on investment banking; the details of HSBC's Studzinski's glam 50th birthday party; and hats off to Rainer Stephan, chairman of Barclays in Germany.

UK non-conforming mortgage lender Kensington Mortgages has shown how well the monoline, securitization-funded business model can work. Group treasurer Mark Wilten tells Louise Bowman why its risk profile has moved away from sub-prime lending and denies that the company is for sale, despite persistent rumours to the contrary.

Boaz Manor, co-founder of Canadian $800 million hedge fund Portus Alternative Asset Management, says he doesn’t know what has happened to the $8.8 million-worth of jewels he bought with investors’ money, according to a lawyer investigating the fund’s failure. Manor is currently in Israel after fleeing there after his company’s meltdown. In total about $700 million has been secured after being found in 130 Portus bank and investment accounts in Canada, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cayman Islands, says the local press. Where the jewels are remains to be seen. Creditors meet in June.

The authorities of Saudi Arabia have used the stock market to redistribute wealth, but in doing so they helped inflate a bubble. The inevitable crash has aroused some discontent. Rather then rushing to bail the market out, policymakers should use the sell-off as a spur to force out the manipulators and build a sounder infrastructure by forging ahead with privatization, licensing new investment banks and brokers and fostering institutional asset management. The pain of the sell-off will eventually pass, because Saudi Arabia is booming.

Until discrepancies between index auction prices and single-name CDS recovery rates can be ironed out, investors should sell recovery basis risk.

News of the first RMBS transaction out of Saudi Arabia has focused attention on the potential for real estate-backed issuance from the region.

After having been unseated as CEO of Deutsche Börse by hedge funds, Werner Seifert has concluded that the hectic race for alpha will destroy capitalism. Euromoney looks at Seifert’s passionate espousal of good old corporate values.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon wants a clear, new structure for the bank, without personal fiefdoms and superstars. But what does this mean for one of its most important franchises – the structured credit business that JPMorgan once dominated – now in the hands of a new generation of managers? Alex Chambers reports.