Macaskill on Markets

A US climate bill filled with green credits will create business for banks and provide relief from the backlash against ESG products.

West Virginia state treasurer Riley Moore has opened another front in a campaign by Republican officials in the US against banks that promote ESG policies.

HSBC Asset Management’s head of responsible investing has had it up to here with consultants and regulators lecturing him on climate change risk.

Investment bankers frequently boast that their employer has a unique culture. There is a shared sense of purpose and responsibility for decision-making, normally allied with a common understanding of risk and the best way to pursue manageable growth. Often these cultural values are made explicit with a formal "One Firm" policy.

The focus on the role of Goldman Sachs in structuring currency and interest rate swaps for Greece a decade ago has highlighted the upside and downside of providing complex liability advice and trades to governments.

Goldman Sachs partner Addy Loudiadis could have been forgiven for hoping to have heard the last about her part in structuring currency and interest rate swaps for Greece.

It seems an odd time to devote resources to building an investment banking franchise.

The unexpected lurch towards tighter regulation by the Obama administration has focused an unwelcome spotlight for banks on the dirty secret of their sales and trading operations: exactly how much is made from proprietary risk-taking by business lines with a nominal client focus.

There is a near consensus that 2010 will be a banner year for commodities trading. Energy analysts are hard pressed to see anywhere for prices to go but up. TV ads urge householders to cash in their gold to exploit the boom. And banks of all types are scrambling to win a share of the commodities revenue that was once largely the preserve of investment banks led by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Two of the top-four bank commodity groups are run by women, unusually for the male-dominated world of sales and trading at investment banks.

Compensation could become a sore point if 2010 fails to turn into the FICC bonanza many bank heads seem to be expecting.

It’s the year that just keeps giving for fixed-income traders. But the growing intensity of the race to exploit this state-sponsored boom suggests that there will be significant disruption when the FICC festive season ends.

Protectionist business interests risk derailing Japan's merger reforms to allow foreign companies to make non-hostile acquisitions in the country. M&A adviser Nicholas Benes argues that meaningful change is essential if Japan is to raise its woeful levels of foreign investment.

Alistair Graham and Larry Byrne, who act for a UK executive facing extradition to the US over price-fixing claims, argue that the new extradition system between the countries is deeply flawed

UK junior market AIM could be hampered by tight interpretations of EU rules on what constitutes a public offer

EU stock exchanges are taking action to stop issuers deserting them because of cost increases caused by the impending Prospectus Directive.

Foreign companies are concerned about a requirement that they register with the SEC if they have more than 300 individual US shareholders. Buying back shares might not be the answer.

Disclosure rules are forcing issuers to consider listing outside the EU, reports Michael Evans. Switzerland's SWX sees an opportunity to win business from its European rivalsThe Swiss Exchange (SWX) has launched its first offensive in what promises to be a long battle to snatch Eurobond business away from London and Luxembourg. Last month, representatives of the exchange visited capital markets law firms in London in a bid to convince lawyers of the benefits to non-EU issuers of switching to SWX. The SWX sales pitch is based on new rules unveiled on November 15. These make a Swiss listing relatively easy at a time when Europe's transparency and prospectus directives will impose costly reporting requirements on companies listed in the EU.