Pfandbrief issuers were notable by their absence as the covered bond market descended into chaos.

Investors may have learnt the lesson that bonds aren’t supposed to provide equity-like returns.

Opportunities are growing for distressed debt and equity investors in the region despite record levels of private equity fundraising.

Could problems in the UK inter-bank market have been avoided?

The allure of private equity to senior banking figures is well documented: why run a business for a bank when you can run a fund for yourself?

Takeover of partner Synthesis Bank is central to planned expansion into wealth management.

JPMorgan is making a big push in the Middle East, and particularly in Islamic finance, after announcing last month that it had hired some of the biggest names in investment banking in the region.

Banks are rushing to offer investors access to exposures designed to replicate the performance of hedge funds but without the high fees and other drawbacks. But their replication methods are increasingly being called into question. John Ferry reports.

Hedge funds are supposed to perform well when mainstream markets are falling: that’s when their capacity to go short and their managers’ selection skills have the best chance to outperform long-only managers that do no better than replicate the index. That’s when they earn their two and 20. At least, so the theory has it.

I do expect some tales of woe. I am nervous about UBS and Deutsche and concerned about Merrill.

After what could be described as a difficult conception and then arduous labour, foreign exchange settlement system CLS has gone on to thrive in the first five years of its life. Lee Oliver reports.

Thomas Fischer’s grand plans for WestLB were doomed to fail. Now potential buyers are trying to work out how they can make money out of what’s left. But could Fischer’s bold but ultimately futile attempts indirectly herald the shake-up that the German banking system so desperately needs? Philip Moore reports.