The landscape of the Italian banking market has been completely redrawn over the past 12 months but consolidation remains work in progress.

“A private equity play in China is exactly that – a private equity play. The price may go up or down, but that’s not a China strategy”

More evidence of the chronic staff shortages still faced by Asia’s private banks came in September with news that UBS, the largest private bank in the region, has resorted to constructing its own purpose-built training facility for new recruits and existing staff to cater for the demands of its burgeoning Asia wealth management business.

IMF: Singapore welcomes the right sort of people

Bavarian structured finance banker's national dress accidently arrives in suitcase packed for glittering awards do

Benefit of hedge fund ratings to investors is questionable.

Investigations into the backdating of stock options has caused around half of the more than 100 companies under scrutiny by the SEC and/or the Department of Justice to miss deadlines for filing earnings. More are likely to follow, says Todd Fernandez, senior analyst at independent institutional research firm Glass Lewis & Co.

RAB's recent acquisition is second in two years.

The man behind Man Group is to step down from his role of CEO.

While the current stage in the leverage cycle benefits corporate borrowers, concern has been raised about the protection that bondholders receive against declining ratings and event risk. Does good corporate governance have anything to offer this set of stakeholders, and should it have? Florian Neuhof reports.

There has been no relief from the pressures that last year’s annual cash management poll detected: globalization, declining margins and intensified competition. Smaller banks face a choice between expanding to compete or forming difficult-to-implement partnerships. Some might soon begin to question whether all the effort is worthwhile. Lawrence White reports.

Do superheroes need financial advice, and if so, how do you go about giving it?

Leasing is one of the hidden jewels of European banking. Its use by balance-sheet-constrained large private companies, credit-constrained small and medium-size enterprises and indebted public sector entities, including municipalities and local authorities, is growing rapidly. Europe is fast surpassing the US as the largest market for leases as more and more borrowers see the advantages compared with traditional loans. Peter Koh finds that banks are delighted and selling the product busily through their branch networks.

Arab Bank has bought a 50% stake in Turkey’s MNG Bank, as part of its expansion plans. MNG Bank was established in 1991, and offers retail banking and capital markets services through 11 branches across Turkey.

The debt burden is a growing worry, not least because many of those that invest in the debt market’s increasingly ingeniously packaged instruments are themselves heavily leveraged.

In contrast to the US, where supply is lacklustre and only just ahead of 2005 volumes, it will be a hectic last quarter in the European securitization market. Last year in November the market saw an incredible supply of €60 billion. Bankers expect that number to be easily matched this time around and maybe even surpassed. In fact 2006 total issuance is already 20% ahead of last year. In addition to jumbo UK RMBS, which is forecast by syndicate officials to figure highly, balance sheet CLO issuance from the likes of RBS, HSBC, Barclays and ABN is also said to be lined up.

“Nobody should be scared of socialism, it’s about equality”

Barclays Capital has identified a budding mortgage-backed securities market as one of the key reasons for its decision to open an investment banking and broker-dealer business in Mexico. The UK bank started operations in Mexico last month with $100 million in capital. Barcap also hopes to take advantage of the fast-growing local capital markets, as more companies seek to raise money through high-yielding peso-denominated bonds.

Taking the successful US CRE CDO model and simply applying it to the European CMBS market is unlikely to work.

Graduation day might be approaching for some of the larger companies listed on London’s AIM (Alternative Investment Market) but the sheer volume of competitors means some might not make the cut.

More than two years after the enlargement of the European Union, many large equity investors remain convinced that the combined equity markets of central and eastern Europe are too small for them to invest in, despite a combined equity market capitalization of €211 billion at the end of 2005.

Likelihood of “ratings shopping” by borrowers/dealers increases.

Mexico broke ground this year with a $160 million, three-year catastrophe bond to cover an earthquake disaster, the first developing country to do so. With the success of that issue, Mexico’s finance ministry is now considering issuing against hurricanes and intense rains that cause flooding. As Mexico recovers from the devastation brought by Hurricane John in September and scientists warn of ever-more severe weather because of global warming, the need to protect against such disasters is clearly urgent. According to José Antonio González Anaya, the finance ministry’s insurance chief, bonds issued by the hurricane-prone US state of Florida could serve as a model for Mexico. Those bonds generally pay more interest than corporate bonds with the same rating and need a category 5 hurricane directly hitting a city to trigger them. The finance ministry says that ideally Mexico would issue a cat bond against hurricanes before president Vicente Fox ends his term in December. Even if that goal is not met, president-elect Felipe Calderón is expected to follow a similar, pro-market economic policy and Mexico’s cat bond issuance is forecast to continue. “What’s important is to find innovative insurance schemes to protect our natural disaster fund and our public finances,” González Anaya says, adding that the bonds give the government immediate access to funds should disaster strike. He adds that Mexico went ahead with the earthquake bond first because although hurricanes are far more frequent than earthquakes, an earthquake’s intensity is easier to measure and easier to insure against. Heavy rains are even more complex disasters because risk levels must take into account the probability of mudslides and other rain-related disasters.

“When you talk about leasing, everyone thinks you’re talking about cars. My mother-in-law thinks I sell cars for a living”

Qatari bank aims to become world’s largest Islamic player after IPO.

Over the years ABN Amro has suffered a series of setbacks. But Niall Cameron argues that internal noise over organization charts has died down and the focus is on the business.

Europe’s supranational and agency borrowers are becoming ever bigger issuers in the international capital markets even as their historical missions appear to have been met and the banking and financial market to have matured enough to finance at commercial rates most of the lending risks the agencies assume. The debate as to whether these subsidized institutions distort or complement the capital markets continues unabated, as private lenders submit to capital adequacy directives that do not extend to the agencies. Alex Chambers reports.

Sovereign liability management exercises continued apace last month in the region, with Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay executing either debt swaps or local-currency deals. Strong market conditions are encouraging sovereigns to clean up their yield curves or reduce their foreign exchange exposure in favour of local currency. Brazil issued a R$1.6 billion ($750 million) global bond denominated in reais. It was the sovereign’s second such deal. Colombia followed with a $1 billion offering of 2037s. Part of the proceeds will be used to buy back up to $700 million of global bonds. Finally, Uruguay entered the market with a $400 million-equivalent inflation-indexed peso bond.

Polish private equity firm Enterprise Investors has closed its most recent fund, Polish Enterprise Fund VI, at €658 million, making it the largest ever fund raised for central and eastern Europe.

Central bank governor emphasizes the resilience of the financial system at a time of crisis.