The crunch has precipitated a world where good credits can turn bad overnight. Research teams must adapt to the new circumstances while clients increasingly have their own expertise. Jethro Wookey reports.

The number of new equity-linked issues in the first quarter of 2008 fell dramatically across all regions in comparison with the same period in 2007.

"Who is this?"

As a new approach to financial PR it may take some time to bed in.

High-ticket foreign purchases by Tata Steel and Hindalco have grabbed the headlines but India’s SMEs are also increasingly acquisitive. Cash-rich, or funded by enthusiastic local banks or foreign investors, they are taking advantage of turmoil in the US. Elliot Wilson reports.

Romania is vulnerable to the global credit crisis, with its current account in deficit, a budget shortfall and a domestic credit binge.

South Korea’s new president, Lee Myung Bak, urgently wants the privatization of Korea Development Bank; he hopes it will become globally competitive. But some question the wisdom of the deal. Lawrence White reports from Seoul.

Sberbank’s chief German Gref has the task of creating a national banking champion for Russia. That includes building a presence overseas.

London’s position as a centre for hedge funds is under threat. Brevan Howard is the latest to warn the UK government that it will be moving its headquarters abroad if proposed tax changes are implemented.

New organization for the merged RBS/ABN business is unveiled.

Ukraine’s financial institutions are thriving despite renewed political upheaval. A surge in M&A and IPO activity could be the next stage.

Only suckers believe that the remedies applied to the credit crisis have cured the underlying sickness. There’s more painful adjustment to come, and it could last two to five years.

Russia’s infrastructure will cost trillions of dollars to fix. How are bankers and investors looking to profit from the rebuilding?

There may be plenty of doom and gloom among private equity practitioners in the US and western Europe as a result of the global credit crunch that has all but dried up their cheap financing. In Russia, though, the mood among their peers is almost euphoric. "I am amazed by how relatively easy it is to raise money for a private equity fund in Russia," says Florian Fenner, managing partner at UFG Asset Management in Moscow, which is fundraising for its second private equity vehicle. UFG is looking to raise at least $500 million and expects to make a first close at least half that figure in May.

The International Capital Markets Association raised SFr100,000 ($97,000) for underprivileged children with its annual ski weekend in Davos at the end of March. The event is more than 30 years old, but the potential for charitable contributions was only realized last year.

The grip of the credit crunch seems to be easing for Brazilian corporates wanting to issue debt. This optimism from Brazil is in line with the rest of Latin America, where the debt market fog is clearing.

With the euro hitting fresh record highs against the dollar, it must be tempting for European policymakers to crow. However, complacency could lead to crisis.

"The problem is that banks have ended up lending to these deals by accident – they thought that they were underwriting them"

Can the rapid growth of e-trading in recent years continue?

BNP Paribas is presenting MillionTreesNYC in New York, a citywide, public-private scheme with the goal of planting and caring for a million trees across New York’s five boroughs over the next 10 years. Introduced as one of mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 127 PlaNYC initiatives to create a healthier, sustainable city, MillionTreesNYC will increase the city’s tree-count by 20%.

UBS has done a service to all investors in bank stocks and bonds by making public the report requested by the Swiss Federal Banking Commission into the root causes of its sub-prime losses.

The Bank of England’s special liquidity scheme does nothing that hasn’t already been done by the Fed and the ECB – except on more onerous terms.

The crisis suggests that privately owned banks are not self-evidently better managed nor more effective at allocating capital than state-owned ones.

A reduction in foreign capital flows means that many banks in eastern Europe are indirect victims of the credit crunch.

Does the EC need to force clarity on clearing?

Freeing up markets would help the country lose its tag as the poor man of Latin America.

Osman Semerci, Merrill Lynch’s former global head of fixed income, currencies and commodities, and co-president of the EMEA global markets and investment banking business, has joined $1.7 billion alternatives group Duet as its chief executive. Duet Group, which started in 2002 with just $10 million in a single fund, now has 14 funds, and is looking to further expand its range of strategies, in addition to growing its private equity business.

Millennium BCP used to be the star of Portuguese banking. But a period of destructive internal rivalries, abortive takeover bids and dubious strategies made the firm a basket case. Can a new chief executive – seen as a safe pair of hands – rebuild the bank’s capital and revitalize its growth?

ING has released a report on the economic and market implications of US obesity. Entitled The fat of the land, the report looks at possible effects on the US economy of the growing numbers of obese people. In 1980, some 15% of Americans were classified as obese, under the (admittedly questionable) BMI method. By 2004, that figure had risen to about 33%.

Turkish companies are the rising stars of corporate governance in emerging Europe. But CEZ remains the one to beat.