But withdrawal of investors with unrealistic expectations seen as advantageous.

With an amazing recovery from the brink of collapse and a comprehensive debt restructuring, everything seems to be going right for the Dominican Republic. But all the old economic weaknesses are still there and they need urgent attention. Felix Salmon reports.

Turkey looks set to be the next great EU convergence play. Now foreign banks want a piece of the aciton. But the owners of the country's financial institutions are seeking to form strategic partnerships rather than relinquish ultimate control. Kathryn Wells reports.

The bankruptcy highlights the CDO market’s continued inability to price in potential credit events.

US investors could put more than $470 billion to work in US treasuries if Asia’s appetite for dollars continues to fall. Analysts identifify a huge potential for domestic reallocation.

Fears of oversupply fade in Europe.

Refco, the troubled commodities and futures brokerage that went into financial meltdown after allegations of executive fraud surfaced in October, is likely to sell its futures business to private-equity firm JC Flowers. The company is also expected to put its capital markets business into bankruptcy. [see market leaders section, this issue -- Refco deals out a harsh lesson -- for comment]

Fresh from big spending on China’s state lenders, global banks are lining up to buy into its securities industry.

Venezuela’s president is also unlikely to endear himself to Washington after saying that he has sold $20 billion of foreign reserves, mostly in US treasuries, over the past four months and deposited the funds at the Bank for International Settlements in Basle. A central bank director admitted that Venezuela had sold some of its holdings of treasuries, citing financial reasons. Some analysts, though, reckon the move was motivated more by political reasons.

A pan-European growth market could significantly boost EU GDP, but there are obstacles to putting it in place.

UK pension funds still have 65% of their assets in equities, but the figure is still dropping, according to European Credit Management, which expects it to fall to 50%.

Experiments show that individuals with a specific type of brain damage, which prevents them from feeling fear, outperform normal players when it comes to making some investment decisions. Crack and methamphetamine addicts as well as alcoholics similarly outperform.

47 The percentage contribution of equity capital market revenues to overall capital market revenues at investment banks in the third quarter. The contribution of ECM revenue to overall capital market revenues rose from just 38% in the second quarter, according to Dealogic estimates. 79,400,000,000 The volume of Asia Pacific (ex-Japan) ECM deals in the first three months of 2005. The figure is the highest for the first nine months of a year on record.

Montgomery & Co is known for its M&A advisory services. Now, it's pushing into equity research, institutional sales and trading. It will offer specialist research in key areas for growth companies: medical devices, biotechnology, speciality pharmaceuticals, wireless technology, digital media technology and semiconductors.

General Motors said it had reached a tentative agreement with the UAW to reduce the company’s spending on healthcare benefits and was exploring the sale of a controlling stake in its finance arm, GMAC. Along with its third-quarter results, it announced total planned cost savings of $6 billion over the next three years from a combination of reduced healthcare spending, sourcing cheaper supplies, making job cuts and closing plants, all in an effort to shore up its balance sheet.

The sovereign should deepen its domestic market, not issue local-currency debt abroad

During the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington at the end of September, some of the leading names in global finance gathered at the Hay Adams Hotel to witness the presentation of Euromoney’s minister of finance and central bank governor of the year awards.

San Francisco likes to think of itself as the most liberal US city. Every May, for example, the famous Bay to Breakers race takes place.

Taiwan recognized the failings in its existing pension systems early. A new scheme was launched in July. It is already accumulating funds rapidly and the effects on Taiwan’s domestic capital markets are likely to be dramatic. There will also be numerous opportunities for global asset managers. Chris Leahy reports.

Quote from Brian Shapiro, president of management and technology consulting firm Carbon360, in regards to the impending registration deadline imposed by the SEC.

Equal opportunities mean that the City of London is no longer just a boozy boys’ club – and rightly so. But plying punters with alcohol and beautiful women is still a great way to promote your product, even in these politically correct days. Just ask Threadneedle Investments.

Hybrid corporate bonds might be the new hot product of the Eurobond market but originators’ hopes for a deluge of new issues have not been fulfilled.

Three monoline insurers were used to credit wrap Scotia Gas Networks’ £2.22 billion ($3.9 billion) bond sale via sole arranger Barclays Capital, and lead managers Citibank, RBS and DrKW in October. This deal refinanced acquisition loans extended for the purchase of the Scotland Gas Networks and Southern Gas Networks from National Grid Transco in June (five out of nine networks were also sold). Although investors are hungry for stable investment-grade credit (BBB in this case), the lack of financial history – a requirement for an exchange listing – meant that arranger Barclays was required to bring in the monolines – Ambac, FSA and XL Capital. The structure was sliced into 11 tranches and sold to a wide variety of investors (euro and sterling, fixed, floating and index linked). SGN is owned by Scottish and Southern Energy (50%), Ontario Teachers (25%) and Borealis Infrastructure (25%).

CDP’s latest issue shows the benefits of looking beyond the usual suspects to banks that offer strong secondary market support and enhanced distribution.

As the world awakes to the possibility of a bird-flu pandemic, analysts at CLSA have assessed the economic implications for Asia of an outbreak. CLSA has compiled an index of relative economic risk based on healthcare expenditures per capita, tourist arrivals per capita and total trade as a proportion of GDP. The results might surprise most readers. Based on these three measures, Hong Kong and Singapore emerge as the economies most at risk, followed by China, Malaysia and Thailand. Despite high spending on healthcare, both Hong Kong and Singapore remain highly exposed to the economic fallout from a pandemic by dint of their high dependence on international trade. Each country also has tourist arrivals roughly twice its population.

Investors want growth and are impatient to get it. Bank CEOs are feeling the pressure, so expect more M&A activity.

Wealth management arm put on course to “grow by multiples”. The appointment of Thomas Kalaris as chief executive of Barclays Wealth Management signals the start of a rapid build-up.

Hedge funds are overflowing with money, and margins on traditional strategies are shrinking. One solution to their search for returns is to offer their services to companies in need of financing. Some are nervous about taking up the opportunities but others are discovering just how useful these new financiers can be.

In another sign of the rapid modernization of China’s capital markets, the Asian Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank, became the first foreign institutions to issue renminbi-denominated bonds, known as panda issues.

Was there an ulterior motive for CMC Group’s decision to drop the deal4free brand?