Hurricanes don’t just destroy cities: they can also destroy sovereign finances. Hurricane Ivan, for instance, wiped out so much of Grenada’s infrastructure in September 2004 that by the end of the year the country was in default on its debt. Things were not helped when Hurricane Emily struck Grenada in July.

Banco Central de Chile president Vittorio Corbo is arguably Latin America’s most respected central banker. He tells Euromoney how he is keeping a lid on the region’s biggest economic danger – inflation. Sudip Roy reports from Santiago.

BNP Paribas has filled its global head of securitization post. Former Morgan Stanley securitization syndicate and trading head Tim Drayson joined last month. Drayson left Stanley after 10 years in March and joins at a time when BNPP has advertised its intention to grow its securitization business.

The M&A boom is good news for equity capital markets. M&A, as well as generating more transactions, tends to be more profitable than other types of ECM deals. Banks with strong M&A businesses stand to benefit most. Peter Koh reports.

Why CFOs should stop mistrusting hedge funds

Technology companies have to swallow harsh market truths – and some pride – and give up independence.

Leading presidential candidate promises orthodox finances.

Just days after Refco announced what it termed “significant volume increases on its professional and institutional FX trading platform, FX ProTrader”, activity on the platform ground to a complete halt.

Germany is the new battleground for French banks, it seems, with BNP Paribas and Société Générale both making hires. BNPP has hired Menko Jaekel from Citigroup’s Frankfurt office for its DCM financial institutions group’s coverage of Austria and Germany. He reports to Razi Amin and Anthony Fane, co-heads of DCM FIG Europe. The move is the latest in a series of appointments that the bank has made in an effort to grow its covered bond business. In structured products and derivatives it appointed Ralph Heinig and Marc Steiner for the same region.

The competitive spirit in investment bankers at CSFB and Morgan Stanley is alive and well. But instead of the usual battle to win business from clients or trading head to head, they clashed on a non-financial field.

Sovereign has shown it retains access to the capital markets despite political and economic woes.

Harvard University’s endowment fund has appointed as its head emerging-market legend and one-time candidate as IMF head Mohamed El-Erian. Formerly, El-Erian was running $30 billion in funds at bond investment manager Pimco. He takes over from Jack Meyer who, following complaints about his large compensation package decided to leave with some of his team to run a hedge fund. Meyer is likely to make a success of the new venture given that he has built up Harvard’s fund from $4.7 billion in 1990 to its present $25.9 billion.

The European Union is introducing the first uniform covered bond legislation. The long-term effects could be beneficial, but some issuers still point to discrepancies between countries that could stifle the development of a cross-border European mortgage funding market. Mark Brown reports.

South Africa’s Standard Bank is poised to buy Bank of America’s Argentina business, although an agreement is unlikely before the end of the year. Standard Bank is leading a group of buyers for BankBoston Argentina, including two wealthy Argentine families. The acquisition would consolidate Standard’s Argentine presence after it announced that it was also waiting for regulatory approval for its purchase of ING’s local unit. Bank of America’s decision to sell is another indication of its retreat from the region. Last year it sold its commercial banking unit in Panama and has also said that it intends to dispose of its businesses in Colombia and Peru. The bank has also announced that it is selling its asset management business in Mexico.

Korea’s love-hate relationship with foreign capital continues. In October, the government announced that it would be seeking tax payments totalling $210 million from five foreign private-equity investment firms that relate to profits earned from investments in Korean businesses.

At long last the first big refinancing of German multifamily residential units is starting to happen. The €1.55 billion Immeo Residential Finance is in effect a new asset class – multi-family residential. The underlying asset is a portfolio of 48,000 units in the Rhine-Ruhr region formerly owned by Thyssen Krupp purchased by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund (MSREF) and Corpus. This will be the benchmark for other German multi-family real estate refinancings that will take place in the coming months.

Many investors fear October because it is associated with a number of market crashes. But according to research from ADVFN, a pan-European equity markets website, it is actually quite a good month for equities.

New US bankruptcy laws that came into effect in October will alter the way companies go through restructuring and might make it harder to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In addition the ability of companies to manage their own reorganization will be affected – giving creditors more say after a few months.

Zhou Xiao Chuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, tells Sudip Roy why the renminbi was revalued and what financial reforms are next on the agenda.

It’s good to see that the world’s leading finance ministers slum it on the same flights as us mere mortals to the IMF/World Bank meetings. For who should be on the Virgin flight from London Heathrow to Washington, DC, than UK chancellor Gordon Brown?

Why CFOs should stop mistrusting hedge funds

Global M&A volumes are heading back up to levels not seen since 2000. This should give investors pause for thought: 2000 was, after all, a year of excess. Although the market is very different today, some things never change. Peter Koh reports.

1,900 – estimated number of hedge fund managers that need to register with the SEC by February as part of the US regulator’s new rules for the industry.

Denmark’s Saxo Bank has announced that it will open a London office in the “near future”. Lars Seier Christensen, Saxo’s chief executive, says the focus of the new office will initially be purely institutional.

China’s inefficient economy is under threat because its capital costs are set to rise, but it is as likely to falter because US consumerism hits the wall. And there are signs that American profligacy cannot be sustained much longer

In 2005, while issuers, underwriters, rating agencies and regulators have still been grappling with the question of covered bond identity, investor concerns have been more basic – spreads, yields, and the arrival of new investors. Mark Brown reports.

India’s private-equity business is growing fast again. But unlike the late-1990s boom of flows to technology companies, money is heading into a broad range of sectors, reflecting the strong performance of the economy. Kautilya Shastri reports.

The hedge fund industry has matured at a faster pace than anyone could have anticipated. Sure, there are still problems, but the old habit of tarring all hedge funds with the old brush of suspicion must surely be left in the past.

Brokerage firm Refco steals the headlines but Samsung faces major fine. South Korean electronics conglomerate Samsung has pleaded guilty to price-fixing in a far-reaching probe by the US Department of Justice and has been handed down the second-largest criminal fine ever

Spot FX prices are so tight that it is almost impossible to make a profit from market making. Some providers are going to struggle to remain profitable, which might not be a bad thing.