Africa is the last frontier. There is nowhere attracting more pioneers than Nigeria. With its large and innovative workforce, its attractions are obvious. But is it safe as an investment? Rupert Wright reports from Lagos.

Hedge funds are in the news for all the wrong reasons. But strident calls for regulation are more than just wrong, they are downright dangerous. Financial markets need hedge funds more than ever.

In the clearest sign yet that Turkmenistan is opening to foreign direct investment, the country has granted the first gas production licence to an overseas company. China’s national oil company, CNPC, has received approval to develop a field in the Amu Darya region in eastern Turkmenistan – the first new gas deposit to be developed since Soviet times. The project includes pipelines that will carry gas east across the region to China. CNPC eventually expects to produce 17 billion cubic metres of gas a year from the field.

As recent bridge collapses in the US and China illustrated, the difference between good and bad infrastructure is a matter of life and death. Nowhere is that more true than in Russia, where Soviet-era infrastructure is now creaking under the strain of coping with the increasing demands of the country’s booming market economy.

Balestra Capital’s global macro fund is up 110% year-to-date. Its market analyst, Ryan Atkinson, talks to Helen Avery about how it has played the sub-prime market fallout to its advantage.

The optimization of working capital is the treasurer’s crucial concern – all the more so as rates rise and credit conditions tighten. Financing issues within supply chains are key, and the increasing complexities of supplier-buyer relationships are creating new credit and payment pressures.

Dramatic change ahead for quoting obligations and multiple trading platforms in sovereigns market.

When Deutsche Bank announced in August that it had retained former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan to provide insights and advice to the bank and its clients, competitors were quick to point out the irony.

LaSalle’s hedge fund administration arm now has more than $13 billion in assets, up from $6 billion at launch in March earlier this year. It’s an impressive accrual of assets given the already crowded administration space and indicates a need for administrators with experience in structured products and CDOs.

The banks look to be overstretching themselves in borrowing abroad to fund increasingly risky domestic lending.

With high profits, a low and declining cost/income ratio and an expansive global strategy, BBVA ought to be riding high in the stock markets. But some investors seem to think it is overstretching itself and have marked it down. Peter Koh reports on a success story that some in the market are not reading.

National Bank of Kuwait is hoping to gain a bank branch licence in Syria soon. The bank is still preparing its application but expects to get the green light during the next two months.

Despite growing market volatility and the fallout from the US sub-prime crisis, Latin American stock markets remain hugely profitable after a three-year bull run. Investors worldwide are keen to get a piece of the action. With plans for regional stock exchanges and cross-border trading still at the draft stage, investors are turning to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to get exposure to such equity markets as Brazil’s Bovespa and Mexico’s IPC index and tap into high-yielding shares.

Despite the fallout from US sub-prime woes, analysts are optimistic about prospects for the global economy, as commodities remain strong. But the US drops out of the top five in Euromoney’s latest country risk rankings. Oliver Hexter reports.

The CEO of a London-based product design and consultancy firm has told Euromoney his team has developed a Shariah-compliant futures contract which he says will "revolutionize" Islamic finance. Humayon Dar of BMB Islamic, a specialist Islamic finance company, hopes work on the contract, which he says has already been approved by Shariah scholars, will be finished by the end of the year. He says it should be ready to go on the market during the first quarter of 2008.

A case has been filed by investors in Bear Stearns’ two hedge funds that collapsed because of sub-prime losses. The case, filed in August, claims that the bank misrepresented the extent of the sub-prime exposure in the funds.

The governor of Sama has led the Saudi economy through a turbulent but ultimately prosperous period during an unprecedented term of almost 25 years.

UBS may want to forget much of this year following the closure of its hedge fund, the departure of senior personnel and a profits warning for the second half of the year. Some investors are even calling for the group to sell its underperforming investment bank. Could the saving grace be its emerging markets business? Sudip Roy asks Huw Jenkins, CEO of the investment bank.

Uday Kotak is India’s most successful self-made banker. In just over 20 years, he has transformed his company from humble beginnings into a financial conglomerate. As financial liberalization gathers pace, he tells Sudip Roy why he is confident of further success.

The Brazilian has brought a sense of euphoria back to the country and established it one of the four key emerging nations, as part of the Bric group.

The disappearance of both CP investors and ABS buyers in August had grave consequences for those vehicles that rely on both.

Several of the most important countries in the Caribbean are considering setting up a regional stock exchange, as capital markets in the region become more integrated. The stock exchanges of Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Barbados already have compatible trading platforms, and their regulators are now exploring ways in which the bourses could become further linked. They are also considering a pan-Caribbean regulatory authority for capital markets, as a precursor to introducing a single currency.

Just when liquidity on Wall Street was starting to dry up in the summer, one US bank was taking it to a whole new dimension.

Three years ago Khazanah, Malaysia’s state investment body, was instructed to become activist, holding on to most of the state’s corporate holdings rather than privatizing them, and setting tight performance targets. Chris Wright assesses the successful reconstructions, such as Malaysia Airlines, and those still under way, as at car maker Proton.

NBG, Greece’s largest bank, is doing well out of a domestic growth surge but has recognized the need to find the fastest-growing, most profitable parts of the market. The same strategy is being applied to its ambitious expansion programme abroad. Laurence Neville reports.

Bankers at Citi’s Asian headquarters in Hong Kong were stunned when Jeremy Amias, managing director and head of fixed income, currencies and commodities for the region, resigned late in August to join Noble Group, a Hong Kong-based supply chain manager of commodities and other resources products, as chief operating officer – finance.

Often accused of being unwilling to make use of cutting-edge investment techniques, Japanese institutions are more and more attracted to the heady mix of strong ratings and high yields offered by structured credit. But the development of the market is threatened from several directions, and some worry that an over-cautious investor base could prove as dangerous as a reckless one. Lawrence White reports from Tokyo.

Anyone seeking evidence of the growing range of investment opportunities for private equity practitioners in Russia need look no further than the news that Mint Capital has paid $8 million for a blocking minority stake in Mone, one of the country’s leading hairdressing and beauty salon chains.

"In some cases the commitment of larger banking institutions has run ahead of the expertise and knowledge that currently exists. And that’s OK. It’s right to try to understand the best ways to maximize the opportunities. It’s a massive shift, and it’s going to pick up speed and be one of the largest movements in the history of business"

In an interview with Euromoney Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China, reiterates that China will not be bullied into changing its exchange rate policy, admits that the central bank is watching closely for signs that the economy is overheating, and says that the People’s Republic is keeping its dollar exposure in line with the market average.