Unprecedented high spreads between European government bonds are prompting some radical – and frankly unworkable – new ideas.

Predicting corporate default rates on the basis of historical experience is a futile pastime.

What was previously a winning model has become instantly bereft of merit in the eyes of investors.

Corporate FX losses are already running into billions. The problem, as the dollar’s rally continues, could be endemic.

It seemed like such a no-brainer. This time last year asset managers of every hue were falling over each other to establish debt opportunity funds – the obvious response to the looming liquidity crunch in the credit markets. Indeed, the number of firms setting up funds as early as 2005 showed how clearly they were seen as the next big money-spinner. Fast forward a year and, along with many other investment strategies across the capital markets, things have not quite panned out as planned. Credit opportunity funds that were poised to pile into the hung LBO pipeline last year were initially frustrated as many banks stubbornly refused to sell and secondary prices remained in the mid-90s. Several big sales in the second quarter of this year – such as Citi’s sale of $12 billion loans to Apollo Management, Blackstone Group and Texas Pacific Group and Deutsche Bank’s $5 billion deal with Apollo and Blackstone – were seen as a sign that the long-awaited deluge of distressed buying opportunities had arrived.

Christian Wait, global head of sales at Lehman Brothers, has moved to Standard Chartered where he will head global markets. He reports to Lenny Feder, global head of financial markets. Wait, who was European head of DCM before he moved back to the US to head up structured credit sales in 2005, will be based in Singapore. Meanwhile, Ben Katz, a former senior FIG structuring banker at Lehman, will join Barclays Capital in London. He reports to Richard Boath, head of FIG. Lorenzo Frontini who spent 11 years at Lehman, mostly in syndicate, before moving in June to run Italian FIG DCM, has moved to a similar position at Deutsche Bank. He reports to Renato Grelle, who runs Italian DCM.

The witch-hunt of Dick Fuld is wrong. But that doesn’t mean it won’t continue.

A tightly regulated and fast growing market looks attractive, but tightening solvency regulations and gummed-up credit markets mean smaller insurers are finding life tough. That may create a rare chance for brave foreigners to enter the market. But global uncertainty could be advantageous for better-capitalized home banks. John Rumsey reports.

The list of badly flawed financial institutions is long: Barclays (crumbling shareholder value), Société Générale (poor controls), UBS (total mismanagement), Lehman Brothers (vainglorious leadership), Bear Stearns (dereliction of management).

A wave of corporate defaults will follow the onset of a vicious global recession as sure as night follows day. But this time, that night will see zombie companies stagger the earth, dragging their uncovenanted leverage multiples behind them. Louise Bowman explains.

The economy has reached an inflection point. Change is coming that suggests the socialist republic will not only survive but, relatively speaking, could thrive, so long as investors are patient. Chloe Hayward reports on efforts to inject capitalism into the state-controlled economy.

The inclusion of the Pfandbrief in the German government’s banking guarantee marks a turning point – not just in the financial downturn but in the product’s entire history. Jethro Wookey reports.

The acquisition of the European and Asian arms of Lehman Brothers means that the Japanese firm is now the world’s largest independent investment bank. The deal shocked many who had expected a western buy-out. Lawrence White speaks to Takumi Shibata and Sadeq Sayeed, the architects of the deal.

In October the credit crunch finally devastated global equity markets as investor panic threatened to bring down all but the very strongest banks. Alex Chambers was pounding the sidewalks of New York just as the crisis entered its most tumultuous period and perhaps its denouement.

For the hundreds of hedge funds caught up in the collapse of Lehman Brothers International’s prime brokerage, it might take years to claw back securities entrusted as collateral. Some face destruction through rehypothecation. It’s the first case of its type, and now the entire structure of prime brokerage is under scrutiny.

The credit crisis is prompting corporate treasuries to make efficient use of their cash. But it has also thrown up doubts about how secure short-term investment vehicles such as money market funds are. Laurence Neville reports.

A three-way merger of Costa Rica’s largest state-owned banks to help deal with desperate funding shortages and reduce their operating expenses is not without its drawbacks. Chloe Hayward reports from San José.