Euromoney’s annual survey invites investors to rate the quality of bank research on Middle Eastern equity and debt bearing in mind overall performance and accuracy.

Bank analysts and equity investors give their opinions on which companies they think are the best by the individual company sectors.

More issuance likely from PDVSA; Currency appreciation might force devaluation

"It’s a minor irritation. We’ve always thought Moody’s was shit, but S&P has now proved it’s just as shit too"

Banks profit on originate and hold; Expectations ‘ahead of themselves’

Air Liquide attracts new investors; More deals to follow

Signs of life driven by blocks; Rise in bookrunners ‘frustrating’

Fine wine shows an attractive Sharpe ratio; Investors must be wary on valuations

"Deals are being oversubscribed by anything ranging from three to four times up to 15 times – and these are for small $100 million deals up to multibillion dollar deals"

M&A activity drops after introduction; Cade’s response faster than predicted

First international sovereign issue for 90 years; Aftermarket performance disappoints

Priced to support post-deal performance; Mexican equity story outshines Brazil’s

QE distorts currency trading; Returns exist, but in limited pairs

Bonds rise on announcement; Recovery-note holdouts threaten resolution

Depository law proves final hurdle; OFZ spreads tighten on foreign buying

NBAD announces six-month waiver; Rules could promote federal borrowing

Nine-year tenure ends; Maliki seen to be consolidating power

$5 billion under management; Employs advisers and third-party fund manager

More issuance expected; Indonesia performance remains lacklustre

Veteran lured away from Deutsche; Signals BAML ramping up effort in Asia

An investment bank wouldn’t be doing its job if it didn’t advise its clients on where they could potentially make money, and earn a fee from doing so.

The IMF/World Bank meetings in Tokyo produced nothing of note in terms of concerted action to counter the global financial and economic crisis.

Euromoney paid a visit to the annual British Bankers’ Association conference last month in London.

Falling birth rates and an ageing population should force Asia’s financial institutions to face up to the possibility of a pensions crunch.

Sometimes, I am pleased to say, I get there before others. Those who are successful normally spot signals before they become trends and navigate accordingly. I can think of many examples: Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, who realized people would pay £2.50 for a half decent cup of coffee; Steve Jobs, who saw that consumers wanted design as well as functionality; and even Barack Obama, who recognized in 2008 that the US public were desperate for change. Of course, Obama now faces a difficult re-election battle as it is not clear his tenure delivered the change that he promised.

Tucker supports Liikanen proposal; Bank chairmen split on compensation

Goldman Sachs insiders were relieved by the dearth of damning allegations in Greg Smith’s tell-all book about his time at the firm.

The BBA is holding worthy-sounding debates on regaining trust. Instead they should be following an example from 16th-century Germany.

Barclays shows advantage of scale; Failure of RBS disposal too late for NBNK

Pension plans are on the verge of a big move into riskier, illiquid investments to deliver promised returns; they might be better advised to curtail those promises.