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

"The bosses of Europe’s big three stock exchanges, the LSE, Deutsche Börse and Euronext, deserve to have their heads knocked together. They appear to have let their egos get in the way of getting together and forming a genuine European powerhouse."

The return of hard underwriting on recent bond deals underscores how mundane and risk-free the business had become.

Hedge fund rating is a noble goal but Moody’s and S&P’s approaches fail to fill the bill.

There have been plenty of compelling reasons to go short credit as an asset class this year. Investment-grade corporates are under threat from leveraged takeover by huge private equity funds; at the lower end of the credit spectrum, the easy availability of cheap credit even to risky B-rated borrowers has stretched leverage ratios to unsustainable levels.

As summer draws to a close, bankers and investors are gearing up for the rush of new bond issues that traditionally hits the market in the last quarter. In the emerging markets it’s little different. The pipeline of deals out of Russia is strong, Asia is witnessing one of its busiest times of the year and Latin American issuance should pick up now that Brazil’s election is out of the way. Even in the Middle East, corporates are beginning to appreciate the benefits of the capital markets.

As credit research is increasingly geared towards short-term trading ideas rather than fundamentals, there could be a dangerous dearth of information when defaults begin to rise.

One hedge fund blew up and lost a reported $400 million after getting caught short. The other lost $4.5 billion after finding itself long and wrong. At first glance, the only connection the two companies have is that both were hedge funds, and both were punting in the highly volatile natural gas market.

Rato can take the lead in combating the “financial balance of terror”.

Investors can’t get enough of real estate. But property developers should get ready for the wall of money to shift to emerging markets.

With sentiment and finances in good shape, it’s time for emerging market sovereigns to rethink their debt profiles.

It’s not just Sarbanes-Oxley; changing global capital flows also threaten the US’s pre-eminent status as a financial centre.

Emerging market CFOs need to grasp the benefits of a proper hedging strategy.

Will US issuers and investment banks finally learn to love covered bonds?

The spending of the oil wealth will suck in imports, provide a medium-term economic boom and might swiftly and radically realign the global order of which countries boast what combination of real wealth, jobs and durable economic activity.

The point of hedge funds is to produce returns even in a down market. Self-styled long/short funds must not allow themselves to become long-only.

A new product, and a new law, could herald the beginning of institutional investment in global markets.

When three industry trade bodies join forces to issue a joint statement in response to regulatory proposals it’s clear that they are taking the matter very seriously.

If equity investors paid closer attention to what is going on in parts of the bond market they could avoid kneejerk reactions to what is essentially old news.

Would the relatively small capital-raising needs of African sovereigns be best satisfied by joint international issuance or by wider use of their individual domestic markets?

The idea that Venezuela might issue a bond on Argentina’s behalf poses more questions than answers.

Users of the EU’s clearing and settlement systems would like to see a firmer hand on the tiller.

Recent events surrounding the future ownership of Hong Kong fixed-line carrier PCCW [see Hong Kong: Wrong connections] offer evidence that Asia’s private equity market might be overheating. The zeal with which Texas Pacific Group and Macquarie have pursued an acquisition of the key assets of the group suggests that they might be struggling to find suitable investments in the region.

Market participants need to focus on the relevance of information, and not just information for its own sake.

The awards for excellence season is always an interesting time for Euromoney’s journalists. As we consider the relevant merits of different banks and their diverse businesses, there is an opportunity to get to the real heart of what makes a bank tick. To do that, you need to see the leader.

The real test of Goldman Sachs’s new model will come in a prolonged downturn.

Corporate hybrid bonds are living up to expectations of poor performance in a bearish market.

The CIS markets offers lucrative investment opportunities despite the broader emerging markets sell-off.

After an adverse court judgement, any attempt to revive the SEC’s 2005 ruling on hedge fund regulation looks unlikely to succeed unless a so far indifferent Congress is spurred into action.

The structured credit market desperately needs new and different buyers of equity tranches to avoid an eventual sharp and painful sell-off.